


What To Do With Your Soulmate

by RebeccaAnabelBurrows



Series: A Study in Soulbonds (Unrelated Works) [17]
Category: DCU, Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Basically Hal and Bruce aren't soulmates, But there's a reason it's not a warning there, Cheating, Domestic Violence, Eventual Happy Ending, Fluffy Moments, Hal's soulmate is a piece of shit, Implied Sexual Content, Jason and Dick are soulmates, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Past Domestic Violence, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Suicidal Thoughts, Toxic Relationship, and yeah, because there are mentions of Jason's death in this, but I wouldn't describe their relationships as a study in healthiness either, but honestly Hal's soulmate deserved it, but like reluctant ones at first, but... yeah, injuries, should I put major character death in this or no, the bad things don't happen between the main pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:07:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 39,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24612022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebeccaAnabelBurrows/pseuds/RebeccaAnabelBurrows
Summary: For some people, having a soulmate and loving them is easy.For others, this is not the way the world works.Seven years ago, Bruce and Hal had a brush with death that changed their relationship.Nowadays, the family is reuniting to face other difficult times.(Two timelines, "Seven years ago" and "Nowadays" . They could hopefully be read separately if you want to. The first one is centered around the start of Bruce and Hal's couple relationship (No Jaydick here), the second one is mostly about Hal and the Batfamily and includes Jaydick and Batlantern.)
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Hal Jordan/Bruce Wayne, Hal Jordan/Original Character(s), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: A Study in Soulbonds (Unrelated Works) [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1687879
Comments: 16
Kudos: 108





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Let me tell you, this one was fun to summarize (meaning I am going to fix this summary hundreds of times)
> 
> Some clarifications here : 
> 
> This is mainly Batlantern told at two different moments, there is a seven years span between the two timelines. There is a significant Jason/Dick part but it's in the "Nowadays" timeline. 
> 
> I don't know yet how long this is going to be and fair warning, it can take me ages to finish a story.

**Seven years ago**

It should never have happened. Maybe it would never have if they had not been so certain they were going to die. 

Everyone’s comms were out of range, their levels of oxygen were dropping at alarming rates without reason, none of the messages - distress calls would be more accurate - they had tried to send had been answered to.

It had started with a recon mission which had turned into a bad fight on a solitary planet and Hal had used too much energy to get them out of it, so the ring had been ineffective and out of order after that. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they could have just gone straight back to the Watchtower.

But then, the ship had started derivating, impossible to control. Hal and Bruce had tried to take the commands but to no avail. They suspected foul play. Hal wondered which wizard-or-witch-of-the-week was trying to kill them. It looked like they were going to be successful because Hal’s ring wasn’t going to save them this time and Bruce and him were only human.

They had sought help too late and had been out of communication range way too soon. Whoever it was who was messing with them, it was a powerful wizard. And a murderous one. 

Maybe it would have been kinder to just make a hole in their transport. Seeing the oxygen levels lowering and knowing the reserves were going to be too thin at some point was terrible for your moral. 

Their only hope would have been Superman taking a vacation in a nearby place. It was the first time Hal had heard about him taking some time off and wasn’t it very bad timing ? 

Sadly, their location didn’t seem a prime destination for exhausted Kryptonians.

So they have checked everything on the monitors several times in a row, they have looked at blueprints until their eyes hurt and tried to make a call to passing ships but they were in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere was very pretty but it was also very empty and it was going to be their tomb at this point. 

“Bruce, just stop.” Hal had said after a few hours as Bruce had run some analysis or another for perhaps the eight time.

Bruce ignored him as he was wont to do. He had taken off the cowl and his dark hair was all over the place, which was a strange look on the man. He rocked the unkempt look if you asked Hal but telling Bruce that would have been unprofessional. 

Since they were going to die here, Hal didn’t mind that so much but he didn’t want Bruce to tell him he acted unprofessional like Hal was a four year old instead of a qualified pilot. 

“No.” Bruce had growled.

Hal figured if Bruce was growling, things could be worse. The familiarity of it was almost comforting but gave Hal the very adult urge to nag at Bruce. It was probably how his brain had decided to deal with the situation to cope properly. 

“We are going to die and you need to get over it.” Hal had said a bit harshly, as much a reminder for his brain than for Bruce’s. 

“We are not.” Bruce had said, pushing his hair away from his face. 

Hal went to put a hand on Bruce’s shoulder. He was shaking. Hal squeezed and their gazes met, unflinching. 

“Bruce, it’s over. We’re done for. Well, we knew it had to end someday. It looks like it’s going to be today. Working with you has not always been easy but it was worth it, yada yada yada. I am not going to make a damn speech about how despite our disagreements you were a great guy and knowing you had been my pleasure or something. I’d suggest we just relax to make this easier but I doubt it’s going to work.”

Bruce had slumped against his seat and Hal had known then for certain that there was nothing more they could do. He squeezed Bruce’s shoulder once more and was going to go back to his seat when Bruce talked. 

Hal looked at him rummaging through his utility belt. 

“I may have something that could help.” Bruce said, offering Hal a tablet.

Hal didn’t take it, merely looked at it with disdain, and crossed his arms on his chest. 

"I kind of have a bad feeling about this. Cyanide, Bruce ? How original of you. You always have this on you or did you feel like killing yourself before the end of this mission ? Tell me you weren’t the one to sabotage the ship.” 

The idea that Bruce had this on him at all time made Hal really uncomfortable. 

“You never know. And of course not, idiot.” Bruce said.

“The real comfort here is that you’re still you, right ? So how does it work ? I take the tablet and you just watch me die ? Does it feature in your darkest fantasies ?” Hal asked, looking at the offending tablet.

Bruce shrugged. For once, he hadn’t thought about the logistics of it. He had never really planned to use this, it was more of a security measure he hoped he would never have to use. He had never thought the time would come he may use it, and certainly not the time would come he would hand it to one of his teammates. 

“You can knock me out first.” he said. 

He didn’t like the idea of being fully conscious and waiting for his death with Hal’s corpse at his side much either.

Hal looked at him sternly. Bruce wondered if he was mocking him by affecting a serious look. It wouldn’t be a first but they were not in a meeting room in the Watchtower. If he was doing this, it was for Bruce’s eyes only. 

“Yeah, no offense but no thanks. And I won’t let you take this yourself either.” 

Bruce’s forehead wrinkled as he tried to comprehend what motivated Hal’s firm refusal. 

“Why ? You said it, we’re as good as dead.” Bruce said.

Hal paced into the room for a bit before stopping right in front of Bruce. 

“Doesn’t mean we should poison ourselves and I am not spending my last hours with a corpse. Listen, don’t take this badly, but I’d rather make our last moments enjoyable and I’ve heard Bruce Wayne wasn’t that straight, so if you’re willing…” Hal said softly, leaning against the console. 

Bruce’s eyes narrowed, wondering how many of Hal’s words were just for show and how many rang true. It was never an easy task for him to figure out what the man's true feelings about some thing or another were, and he misread Hal’s intentions ever so often.

“Is sleeping with me in your list of things to do before you die ? Flyboys… We’re going to die and all you can think of is having sex.” Bruce had sighed.

He had stood up to be at Hal’s eye level. The man gave him a dirty look. 

“Fuck you. I am seeking comfort here, and why did I ask you for that ? Of course you were going to - umpf.” 

Hal had stopped talking since Bruce had grabbed his neck and kissed him without a warning. Hal being unprepared for it meant it had been clumsy and not as enjoyable as it could have been. 

“Yes. I was going to say yes, stop assuming things about me.” Bruce whispered against Hal’s lips before leading him in the room they used when they needed the rest.

It was barely furnished - a simple mattress needing to be restuffed in a corner and a few pillows.There were clean sheets in a closet. Making a bed with Bruce had an uncanny, grounding sense of domesticity. Hal wondered briefly if Bruce had ever had to make his own bed - he was pretty sure he had servants or something for that.

Making a bed with Bruce felt -oddly- like a rather normal thing to do and that may have worried Hal a little if they had a future where this could have mattered. 

The lights were on the lower mode but not turned off completely and Hal appreciated it. After they had finished with the sheets, Hal kissed Bruce again, and soon enough no more clothes were in the way and they were breathing hard - but not because of the lack of oxygen. 

Hal had made the math, they still had a few hours, the spell or whatever-the-fucking-witch/wizard-used depriving them of a regular amount of oxygen every damn hour. Not something very nice to think about, so Hal concentrated on what they were doing instead. 

The love-making between them had been quite desperate at first and life-affirming but still tender, reassuring. Loving, almost. 

“Should have asked for this way earlier, you’re a hell of a good lay.” Hal finally mumbled, his head resting on Bruce’s torso, Bruce’s hand tracing circles on his skull slowly. 

Bruce laughed freely and kissed Hal’s head on impulse. Hal let him, almost purring. 

“I’ve heard you were taken before.” Bruce said gently.

Light conversation prevented them from thinking too much about their doom but making pillow talk with Bruce had a very strange atmosphere to it - not one that wasn’t welcome, though.

Hal had been dating his soulmate - a chance meeting - for a few weeks but some things had happened and they had decided together to separate for a bit.

Hal had only told Oliver about the break-up, but it had been in a Watchtower’s corridor, which meant it was probably common knowledge for the League. Who would have known that aliens with super hearing and people with spying training were the worst gossipers ?

“Eavesdropping much, eh ? This conversation was for Ollie’s ears only. I would like to be mad at you but the thing is we’re going to die and it really doesn't matter. I don’t want to argue with you.” Hal said, and the last words caught a bit in his throat.  
Bruce massaged his skull a bit more deeply and Hal’s loose grip around his waist tightened. 

“Hal, it’s okay. We’re in this together. And for what it’s worth, I am sorry we won’t have a second chance at this. I feel like we could have enjoyed it.” 

Hal raised his head from Bruce’s chest to better look at him and offered him a sly smile.

“What do you mean ? We’re so doing this again. A few hours is a lot of time, and I am sure you’ll be ready to go again soon.” Hal said, letting his hand travel on Bruce’s body, inciting a sharp intake of breath.

And then they laughed together, and it felt nice. Bruce had kissed him hungrily, a bit rougher than before and Hal had replied in kind, before pausing with a grunt. 

“What’s wrong ?” Bruce had asked, scanning Hal’s eyes with his before looking at Hal’s shoulder he had grabbed a bit more energetically than necessary. 

The wan light had hid it from him before he took a peculiar interest in it but he was now rather certain Hal’s shoulder was a mix of purple and yellow. Bruce lowered his hand to Hal’s biceps before realizing it was bruised too.

He checked the rest of Hal’s body, resisting the urge to turn him over to check his back. He felt cold suddenly. The bruises weren’t that recent, they hadn’t been sustained during their last fight with hostile aliens. 

“Hal ? Are you alright ?” he murmured, sitting up, letting Hal’s head fall into his lap.

Hal sighed, looking up at Bruce - or rather, pretending to be looking at Bruce but developing a fascination of some sort for the ceiling. Wasn’t it a spider in the corner ? Hal shivered. He hated spiders. Disgusting things, really. 

What was Bruce asking him about ? Oh, yes. Hal bit his lip, trying to think of something. He would have done so earlier if the bruises were on more visible areas but he hadn't thought Bruce was going to see him naked. 

“It’s from my last trip in space. It was a bit of a rough space trip. Some bad encounters but it could have been worse. I should have called for backup, but you know me, the overconfident guy.” 

Actually, Hal seldom took unmeasured risks with his life and Bruce was aware of that. Something must have happened and Hal didn’t look like he was going to talk about it with Bruce anytime soon, meaning probably never if you considered their current predicament. 

“You’re going to get yourself killed if you keep up with this.” Bruce said unthinkingly.

Hal’s face had become a polished mask - he hated it when Bruce voiced his opinions about anything related to his Green Lantern function - but his newfound lover’s statement made him laugh. 

“Too late for that, Spooky. And it’s fine, really. Would have healed in a few more days.” he had said, smiling.

Weeks would be more likely, Bruce had thought.

“So, you kind of killed the mood by treating me like a china doll, but would you like to start again where we had stopped ?” Hal asked, stroking Bruce’s tight. 

Bruce’s lips tightened but he helped Hal in a better position for kissing, just doing it more carefully. 

He knew Hal had been lying to him and was trying to distract him, but honestly they both needed the distraction. No more arguing. He owed Hal this much. 

Some time later, Hal had fallen asleep. Bruce had cleaned them up with a cloth and when he had been unable to find a blanket, wrapped a naked Hal in his cape to keep him warm as he put his own suit back on. Hal’s fist tightened on the thick black fabric. 

Bruce checked the monitors once again in the cockpit. It wouldn’t be long before they lacked enough oxygen for it to be dangerous, according to their current levels. Hopefully hypoxia would kill them quickly when it would happen.

He tried contacting Earth one last time. Registered a short message for Dick and Jason, to go with the long letters he had left them at home, which he updated regularly. He registered one more message which went way longer than he had intended for Oliver Queen and another, shorter since he had told many things that would apply to him too in Oliver’s recording, for Barry Allen, both on Hal’s behalf.

A last kindness to the man. Hal deserved as much and Bruce wasn't going to wake him. He was hoping that Hal wouldn't wake again. It was difficult enough to face one's death, Bruce had no doubt watching a friend die slowly but surely was worse. Strangely, that was what they had become, with the years. Friends. Friends who argued too much, but friends nonetheless. 

Bruce didn’t register anything for Alfred. Alfred and him had never been a story you could tell with words. He would understand that. He would take care of the boys like he had taken care of Bruce. Leslie too. Clark would also help. Bruce should make one message for him, the man was his friend and was going to feel guilty for their deaths for the rest of his life if he found out he could have prevented it.

Bruce wasn’t angry at Clark for this, though. He couldn’t be on active duty eternally. Sometimes, you had to take a break. Sometimes, it meant people died that wouldn’t have otherwise. Bruce had more or less made his peace with this, but he doubted Clark had. 

The man was probably never going to take a break ever again after that. Something on the screens attracted Bruce’s eyes. Just two points, but what if…

Bruce tried his comms again, praying Clark’s had been turned on if they were on reaching range.

“Batman speaking -”

“What the hell, Bruce ? Why weren’t you responding ? I have been trying to reach you for the last 30 minutes ! I have received your message but your lack of answer made me think that you were… that you… that it was too late. I am coming to get you, I’ll be there in two minutes with Diana. How are you both ?” 

Bruce closed his eyes. Too many emotions at once. He rubbed his forehead. In the back of his mind, he wondered what Superman and Wonder Woman were doing nearby, but it wasn’t important. He could think about that later. They were not going to die. 

Bruce felt really relieved at the thought. He hadn't be ready to die. Not like that, so powerless. If anything, he wished his death would be quick when it would come to it. 

“We’re okay. We’re…” he started saying.

A voice in the doorway interrupted him. Hal walked in, barefoot. He was naked and clutching Bruce’s cape against his chest. 

“Bruce ? I thought I told you to stop trying.”

His eyes were red. He had been crying, probably. In a few strides, Bruce was facing him. Hal had barely had the time to blink.

“Hal -”

Bruce had grabbed him - staying mindful of the bruises - and kissed him, not minding the comms and what Clark was going to make of this. They were going to live. Hal dropped the cape, looking at Bruce with interrogation marks in his eyes. There was also hope in them, and it was such a good look on Hal. 

“Clark and -” he could barely say before Clark’s entry interrupted him.

“Thanks fuck.” Hal whispered, and his legs buckled underneath him. 

Bruce caught him before he hit the floor. 

“I am going to talk with Clark, put something on and we’ll be back on Earth in no time.” he said, handing him the cape so he could cover himself.

Hal wasn’t modest usually but he put the cape around him and went out of the commands room, saying hello to Clark on his way. It was futile to hide what they had been up to, so Bruce didn’t even try to.

He didn’t say anything about it, hoping Clark would ignore it as Bruce flooded him with information about what happened with the ship, the belligerent aliens, Hal’s ring and the such. It seemed to work at first. 

“So, you and Hal ?” Clark asked when his main questions had been answered to and there had been a lull in their conversation.

Bruce tensed a bit. He didn’t know what to say about that. 

“Nothing to worry yourself about. We needed the stress relief.” he eventually said. 

Of course, Bruce may not have accepted Hal’s offer from someone else, but who needed to know that ? Hal’s return stopped them from speaking more about this. 

“So, you both are ready or are we waiting for oxygen deprivation ?” Hal said, and his tone had a frosty bite to it.

Bruce had frowned, looking at the pilot and Clark had looked back between them. 

“Diana is waiting for me outside.” Clark nodded. 

Another thing Bruce would like to know more about. What had the two been doing ? 

The trip back had been uneventful and quick. Hal and Bruce had barely shared a few words in the Watchtower before Hal asked Clark to bring him back home - he still had to charge his ring and apparently couldn’t wait. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Nowadays**

It had happened very quickly. They were fighting some aliens from another corner of the universe that seemed to have decided that vacations on Earth were a good plan, and had settled on a deserted place near Gotham. Hal Jordan had learned long ago that bad taste was a thing universally shared, regardless of species. 

Hal would have just asked them to go back to their planet and explained that Earth wasn't used to alien tourists but that there was a nice spa resort on Ju-8, that lovely planet in the galaxy next door, who accepted every kind, Goho's inhabitants included. 

Everything could have gone smoothly, but the Gohans there weren't just mere Gohans, they weren't lost tourists but armed warriors. What they had been doing here, Hal would always wonder. Anyway, they hadn't hesitated to attack them and resisted diplomatic discussions.

Tim and Jason had been the ones to find them. They had teamed up on an investigation - Hal still had to get his head around this one - and had found themselves facing the alien soldiers - considering their important number, they had called for backup.

Hence why they - the Justice League and Bruce’s kids minus Damian - had been fighting against a small army of trained alien assassins on a nice Sunday morning. Dick had been visiting the Manor when the boys had asked for backup and Hal had warned the League as they prepared to join the fight.

Luckily, Tim and Jason had been smart enough not to engage before their arrival.

Another good thing was that Damian had been at home under Alfred’s supervision, against his will but away from the battle. 

Bruce and Hal had decided that he was too young to accompany them on League’s business and that they’ll discuss this again when he would be at least fifteen or maybe sixteen. Damian had been very much displeased by the discussion then but also very much alive at the end of the fight against the alien soldiers, so that was a win. 

The fight had been tough, this alien species they were fighting against was quite smart and they were good at combat training too, it would seem. They also had interesting first grade weaponry which interfered with Hal’s constructs, sucking the energy from it, making them wobbly. 

The League had been fighting for hours - and finally winning, from the looks of it - when Hal had to make a choice. He had noticed that the two alien shooters in the periphery of his vision had changed positions and they were targeting Tim and Bruce, probably because they had noticed that they were only fragile humans wearing armors and not metahumans or aliens contrary to their previous targets. It had been happening really quickly, Hal had only noticed because he had wanted to have a global view of the situation and had levitated over the battlefield.

He only had a few seconds and couldn’t protect Tim and Bruce both. He tried, but concentrated his energy on protecting Tim.

The alien weapons were sucking the ring’s energy and Hal always had to put more willpower and energy into his constructs for them to be stable, and the shield he had imagined for Bruce shattered as Hal needed all his energy for the one that was protecting Red Robin.

He barely had the time to realize his nose was bleeding before hearing Barry’s - he supposed it was Barry’s- “Hal !” as he collapsed, barely feeling someone’s arms stopping his fall..

He had woken up in the Watchtower, surrounded by bats and superheroes of all sorts. Too much light, to much noise and too many colors. He squeezed his eyes shut. Why couldn't superheroes all wear black ? 

“Is Tim alright ?” was the first thing he thought of asking as he felt himself slip away, very tired.

“You saved my life.” 

The voice was a bit shaky but undoubtedly Tim’s, and he supposed the hand that squeezed his was Tim’s too. Hal nodded, his eyes still closed. He didn’t have the energy for squeezing back, much less to talk but he tried nonetheless.

“You’re welcome. Bruce ?” Hal had asked.

He had blacked out again before obtaining an answer. When he woke up for the second time, only Alfred and Dr Thompkins were there. They were in the Batcave, in the part that looked quite like a small medbay, and the two of them were discussing something. He called them.

They went to him. Alfred looked about twenty years older and Hal kicked the sheet covering him and looked for his clothes.

“Is he - is Bruce -”

The doctor led him back to his bed before he fell. 

“You need the rest, Mr Jordan. Bruce is - not well. We’re keeping him sedated because of the pain and it will take him some time to get better, if he ever does. I am going to be honest with you, it’s bad. We’ll know more in a few days, a few weeks maybe but if he doesn’t get better, he’s going to die.”

Hal closed his eyes, willing the tears away.

“That’s all ? We can’t do anything ?” He asked, imploring, focusing his eyes back on Dr Thompkins.

He must have made a pitiful sight here, but he couldn’t care less about that.

“He is on his own for this fight.” the doctor said, and she looked tired and sad. 

Hal realized she hadn’t much hope for Bruce. He crossed his arms, trying to find some warmth there.

“Where is he ?” he asked finally.

It was obvious there was no one else here.

“In the Watchtower. I wouldn’t recommend a visit, now, Mr Jordan. You’re still weak and Bruce isn’t going to leave. When Superman went to check on you, he said that your teammates were taking shifts at his bedside.”

“You should go back to him, I am fine. How are the boys ?” he asked, and his question was for Alfred this time.

“Quite shaken, sir. Master Timothy took sleeping pills and is hopefully asleep now. Master Dick and Master Jason had a fight in the living-room but I believe they are now eating chocolate cake and playing video games with Master Damian.”

Hal had nodded - bless Alfred, who could run this household with stern glances and cake - and fallen back asleep. He had used too much energy in this fight and needed to get it back to take care of things. It took him two days to be of any use around the house, and two more to be trusted in the field.

The last days had been complicated. There had been so much to do, so much to plan for. Hal had wondered if he could do it, if he could measure up to everyone’s expectations. Old fears never died, he was finding out. 

He had taken some time off with Carol’s agreement - and her sad, pitying side glances - but there were plenty of things that had to be taken care of.

First, the kids. He knew it was the number one priority, checking on the kids. Well, it was only his first task and he hadn’t been able to complete it at his full extent.  
Damian had closed off and refused to talk to him, which hurt more than Hal thought it would. Probably because Damian was also his son now, if the adoption papers he had signed a couple of years ago with his agreement were anything to go by. And Damian usually talked to Hal about things if coaxed. Well, things weren't his father dying, usually.

He didn’t think he would hear of Damian until dinner at least, like the day before and the day before that, but then Alfred had sought Hal out only a few hours later as he and Dick had been planning patrols. 

Apparently, “someone” (from Alfred’s tone, Hal could tell it wasn’t an intruder), had locked themself into one of the parlors (Who the hell has parlors in their goddamn home ? Hal had asked Bruce a few years ago) and was causing disturbance. 

Hal knew Alfred wouldn’t have bothered them with anything he could have handled himself, and had followed Alfred out of the Batcave immediately. 

When they had reached the parlor, no noise could be heard. Hal broke the door open quickly, worried about what he would find. It had been a reasonable fear, it would seem.

Most of the furniture and ornaments in the blue parlor and a couple of windows had been destroyed. 

Hal had taken a single look at the broken glass and wood shards, the slashed sofa cushions and the crying boy sitting in the middle of it all and his heart had broken a little bit more.

Goose feathers and broken china in his hair, the kid was sniffing and biting his hand to choke the sobs. There were minor cuts on his face. Without a second thought, Hal had marched into the room, collected him into his arms and cradled him.

“It’s okay, Damian. It’s okay. You’re allowed to cry.” he whispered into his son’s ear, stroking his hair and removing the glass carefully in the process.

The kid buried his face into Hal’s neck. Damian seldom was receptive to affectionate gestures but if it was the price to pay for it, Hal really didn't mind his son not being as into hugs as most kids. 

That night, he had slept on the sofa in Damian’s room. The kid had kicked him out in the early morning, saying everything was fine and he could manage now. He didn’t say anything about having cried himself to sleep the night before or ruined the parlor but Alfred told Hal later than the mess Damian had made had been "mysteriously fixed" before Alfred had the time to look into it.

Hal hadn’t gone patrolling, leaving the task to the oldest bats to take care of the youngest one. Somehow, he had fallen asleep as he watched the kid sleep. He hadn’t been able to sleep well in the last few days, and the rest had done him some good. 

He had checked on Damian multiple times in the day - it had brought him some deathly glares - but the kid had looked alright (well, as alright as a kid in his situation could be).

Jason had spent the night here after his patrol and had taken time to spar with Damian in the morning and spent quite some time with him. Hal had the feeling that Jason was the sibling who was more tuned to Damian’s moods. 

He had not spoken with him privately yet. Jason seemed to be a master in guessing people’s intentions and had avoided being alone with him all day. Hal could wait. He had no doubt Jason would come to him at some point, but on his terms, not Hal’s. 

Tim was glued to Alfred (either because he needed the emotional support or thought Alfred needed it, Hal couldn’t say) and - when Alfred was unavailable or had gotten rid of him so he could have a break - spending the rest of the time on comms or on the phone. He probably needed the noise.

It had been quickly obvious to Hal that none of them knew what he had done - choosing Tim over Bruce - and he was glad for it. Tim would have felt guilty about it and the others may have resented him wrongly. As it was, they just knew that Hal had fainted and fell while protecting Tim.

They may have been quite angry at Hal too if they knew what had happened exactly, but despite all the things they could say, they had learnt to enjoy each other’s company and hopefully they valued Tim’s life more than they let on. Which reminded Hal that he should ask Tim and Jason about their recent alliance. 

Dick needed the noise too, just like Tim but differently too, since he needed to be the one to make noise. He was talking all their ears off, probably because the silence was getting uncomfortable for him. Wayne Manor could be described as many things, but silent had not been one of them for some time. 

The fact that Tim and Damian had stopped their constant arguing and that Tim didn’t even protest anymore when Dick ate the last piece of toast had not gone unnoticed. Hal missed breaking food fights, and what had his life become ?

There were still people arguing in the house, though. Jason and Dick were at each other’s throats at every occasion, discussing each other’s every move in the field and whispering furiously in rooms’ corners in the Manor. 

Hal knew why, had known for some time now despite Bruce’s obliviousness to the whole thing. Their arguments weren’t about Bruce and their family anymore. They were about the two of them. 

Which still meant it was about family and Bruce in some way. Hal knew there must have been a catch when he and Bruce had gone more steady, and here it was - he underestimated how complicated this family could get. 

He also underestimated how much he would care about all of them. Damian was the only one that was legally his son but he cared very much about Damian’s brothers too. He had seen Dick grow, and well, not really Jason sadly, but Tim too. And they were Bruce’s kids.

If you asked them, many people didn’t even know that Bruce had kids but the man did love to talk about them with Hal. At first, it had been one of the only safe subjects they could talk about without angering each other - when Hal didn't comment on the boys' education-, but it had quickly become a habit. “Dick said this, Jason is doing that, Tim is going there…”

Bruce loved his kids to death. Well, he was dying to prove this so it was rather accurate. And the truth was, Hal loved the kids to death too. That was why he was going to have this conversation with Dick before Jason and him tore each other apart.

Jason had volunteered for patrol with Tim and Damian, probably because he didn’t want to speak to Hal yet, so Hal was in the Batcave with Dick, planning the patrols for the following days. Hal would have to give them a hand again, so Dick could check on his city and Jason take care of his other activities.

Dick was now Batman, and it was a curious thing to witness. Seeing him in a suit similar to Bruce’s never failed to give Hal a heartache. 

When they went patrolling in Gotham, Hal didn’t wear his Lantern suit. The Green Lantern must not be linked to Gotham that way, and he was acting on his family’s behalf, not the Corps. 

They had put together a suit for Hal from scraps of everyone’s outfits - parts of it had been prototypes or old versions from one of their suits or another - but it didn’t look so bad (and thankfully everything was black, with only a scrape of red here or there). 

Well, except for the black domino. It made him look like Zorro. And Damian’s smirk seemed to indicate he wasn’t as dashing as he thought, but he didn’t mind if it could amuse the kid. He’d rather have this than an apathetic Damian. And at least his suit wasn’t a mix of green, yellow and red, even if Hal knew better than to voice this thought.

Jason had armed him - hand to hand combat wasn’t Hal’s preference and he couldn’t use the ring for this - under the suspicious glares of Tim and Dick.

“The guns are not registered and since those morons insisted, those are rubber bullets.” the young man said, handing him two magazines.

Tim had opened his mouth to protest but stopped when Alfred spoke. Respect was not easy to earn from all the boys, but Alfred had managed to have the respect of them all. Hal admired him greatly for it.

“Language, Master Jason.” the old man had said, adjusting the holsters on Hal. 

“I’ll put 50 cents in the swear jar on my way out.” 

Alfred didn’t look bothered by the provocation. He had dealt with far worse from Jason and loved the kid to bits. 

“You do that. Master Harold, I can’t help but think…”

Hal was waiting for what was next, but Alfred stayed stubbornly silent. Hal waited for a few more seconds.

“Yes, Alfred ?” he asked finally, since it looked like Alfred was waiting for something and all the kids’ eyes were on them. 

The butler guided Hal in front of a mirror. Ah. He could see why Damian had laughed. The suit was a quite heteroclit mix and they would have to redesign the plating a bit so it would fit his chest better - it had been planned for someone with Bruce’s measurements in mind, meaning it was a bit too large. 

But that wasn’t why Alfred had led him to the mirror. The older man was showing him an emplacement on the shoulders.

Hal understood what Alfred was about to say before he had spoken the words. 

“This part of your suit had been designed with a cape in mind.”

There was nearly a full minute of uncomfortable silence between them. The kids hadn’t followed them, probably having been given some cue from Alfred that Hal hadn’t paid attention to. 

Alfred took a piece of folded fabric on a shelf and unfolded it, presenting it to Hal.

“I see.” Hal said, but he said nothing else.

It was obviously one of Bruce’s capes. Blacker than night, long and large enough for Hal to curl into it if he wanted to. 

At this very moment, maybe he wanted to a little. He didn’t reach for the cape. He remembered the feel of it. Had been wrapped into it several times when dozing in the Watchtower. Had helped Bruce out of his suit often enough to know anyway.

It had been a long time since the last time he had fallen asleep with one of Bruce’s cape folded into his arms, but maybe he should try again - it had helped him in the past. 

This wasn’t a prototype or an old one, it was one of Bruce’s regular capes that probably had been repaired at some point by either Alfred or Bruce himself. Bruce, because Alfred’s repairs were never visible. Hal could see where the fabric had been put back together, wondering which fight had necessitated it. 

Probably one of those Bruce had dismissed as harmless to not worry Hal. Hal usually did the same and they argued when one of them found out how close the other had been to lose a limb or far worse, to die. 

Alfred nodded and tied the cape to Hal’s suit, brushing some imaginary dust bunnies away from it. 

“Very well. This one should do, sir.”

Hal closed his eyes and willed the memories away. Not now. He’d indulge into them later. 

“Thank you, Alfred.” he said, and his voice wasn’t shaking as they walked back towards the bats who were waiting for them.

“We can put a bat on it, if you want.” Tim offered.

Hal wasn’t even sure it was sarcasm. With those ones, you never knew. Hal made an attempt to tousle Tim’s hair but the boy was fast and blocked his arm before he could do it, glaring at Hal.

“I am fine.” he assured as Alfred explained what was in his utility belt and where. 

The suit was heavy and Hal yearned to use his ring again instead of firearms but it could do. He would need to train more in it in the future. Hopefully, Bruce would be back on his feet before he got used to all of this. 

The Corps would need him soon, anyway. It had been a while since their last call, and selfishly Hal would love to go off planet for a while and forget a bit about Earth. 

Which meant he should prepare Jason and Dick to handle things here for a while. He doubted they were ready, and Alfred only could help so much.

The thing was, they would probably murder each other before Hal’s return. Hopefully Hal would still have a few days before getting called off planet.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder for people who had read my fanfictions before, this one goes in darker places and is clearly not as light-hearted so please mind the tags. If I've forgotten one, please tell me.
> 
> Hopefully this one will only have a few chapters but don't get too used to regular posting.

**Seven years ago**

It was odd how normal things went after this. They had a brush with death but just went back to their lives as if nothing had happened except for a few additional nightmares. 

They didn’t talk until the next League meeting, which Bruce assumed meant Hal didn’t want to remember what had happened between them, much less speak about it. Well, Bruce had always been discreet about his lovers and they could trust Clark to not gossip with the rest of the League.

At the first League meeting after the incident (Bruce didn’t know if the word reminded him more of the fact that they had been so close to die or if it reminded him of Hal’s hands on his skin), they had argued. Quite usual for them, except the arguing had turned quite nasty. 

More than usual. Bruce had said some things he didn’t mean and he could only hope that Hal had said some he didn’t mean either. The attacks had been personal, about a lack of professionalism and narcissistic issues, carelessness and neglect and inability to relate to people and show compassion.

Clark had had to stop them so they could go back on the meeting’s subject before two founding League members started insulting each other’s families. It wouldn’t go well - both were pretty touchy about it.

When Hal had got closer to Bruce to better yell at him, Bruce had noticed purple-ish marks right under the collar of his uniform, which had been turned up a bit. He had narrowed his eyes but he had kept arguing with Hal until Clark’s intervention.

Both Hal and Bruce were smart enough to realize that their disagreement was unnecessary and that they should really talk about the wizard (or witch) who had sabotaged their ship and nearly sent them to their graves. 

The magical signature was one Zatanna had not seen before. The important thing was to determine if it was an opportunistic attack or a planned one.

Had the spell been thrown by one of the Derezians Bruce and Hal had fought or had it been thrown earlier by someone else ?

Was it a contact spell or a distant one ? A distant one would imply a powerful wizard, and a powerful wizard Zatanna had not heard about wasn’t good news. 

Was the attack directed towards the League, towards strangers trespassing, or towards one of them ? Both of them ? There weren’t that many investigations and missions Hal and Bruce had worked on together.

Most alien wizards didn’t know League’s members personally, and it wasn’t Earth magic according to Zatanna, who had examined the residual magic. 

Another question that divided them was whether or not the attack was an attack towards the Green Lanterns. Hal was one of them, after all. 

“They wouldn’t have chosen a simple ship with only a Lantern into it if their plan was to annihilate us”, Hal kept arguing. 

It wasn’t that he was completely against Bruce’s theory, but one would be spectacularly stupid to attack the Corps without a substantial backup and a good amount of power - it wouldn’t be about a wizard/witch but a whole army and even if it was a possibility, it was a really scary one to entertain. 

“Maybe it was just a test.” Bruce was saying. “Or maybe you angered a wizard personally on one of your diplomatic missions.”

Hal stayed silent for a bit, thinking. He made a much more obvious target than Bruce for aliens, it would make sense if he was the one being targeted and Bruce was just the unlucky guy he had been partnered with. But it would mean they had been very near to die because of Hal. Well, one of Hal's ennemies. He suddenly wished he hadn't so much of them. 

“Not that I remember.” he said. “Not recently anyway, it had been some time since I’ve encountered wizards.” 

“They tend to hold grudges, you shouldn’t dismiss previous encounters.” Bruce said.

Hal was of the opinion that Bruce shouldn’t tell him what he should or shouldn’t do that much and wasn’t going to be shy about it. 

Bruce lecturing him about alien spellcasters was laughable and Hal told him so. Bruce retaliated by saying that Hal had yet to give them a name.

Strangely, this conversation had quickly become an one-to-one discussion. It tended to happen rather often when Bruce and Hal were involved. Others tried to stay out of it. From time to time, an unknowing newbie would try to say something and would inevitably get roasted. They should issue warnings to prevent people from stepping in during Hal and Bruce’s arguments.

Granted, it often delayed lunch breaks because Bruce and Hal were always thorough in the way they criticized each other, but most people just left the room quietly or waited. 

“For all we know, it was just a young idiotic wizard who didn’t realize that what they were doing was going to kill us. Maybe they thought we would be okay because of my ring.” Hal said, crossing his arms on his chest. 

He had a bad feeling about this and doubted his own theory, but it was a comforting one. No one wanted to believe others were going out of their way to kill them, and they should think about it being a possible accident before taking any measures.

“You really want to take the chance ? I am not willing to put our teammates at risk just because Hal Jordan’s theory is that us almost dying was a very unfortunate incident and your precious aliens are all innocent, misguided and harmless people.” Bruce snarled.

Hal stood up, slamming his hands on the meeting room’s table.

“I am just considering alternatives. And I’ve met aliens that are ten times the man you are, Bruce. Fuck you.” Hal had said before he left the room, in the middle of the meeting.

The meeting was postponed after that, like they all had the leisure to reprogram it without it affecting their schedules. And Hal was the one always talking about Bruce lacking consideration for others.

Clark had tried to talk to Bruce about them dividing the League for childish reasons and needing to have a serious talk about things, like people were supposed to do. He told Bruce that they should find a way to put this behind them, that their arguments were unproductive at best.

Bruce had been very Bruce about it, meaning he had barely listened and recommended to Clark to stay out of his business. He could deal with Hal without his advice, thank you very much. 

His relationship with Hal wasn’t what had preoccupied him during his conversation with Clark. The purple-ish coloration on his neck was much more worrying than Clark’s stupid concerns about team cohesion - which weren’t that stupid, but Bruce didn’t want to deal with it right then - and Bruce’s brain couldn’t focus on anything else.

Later, in the Cave, he had checked the dates of Hal’s last trips in space. The timing of Hal’s last mission had seemed odd to him in the ship, but he had brushed it off. He could have been wrong, and he had promised Hal they wouldn’t argue, anyway. Now that he wasn’t in a life and death situation with Hal acting as a distraction, he could think better. 

Bruce closed his eyes tight when he found out enough information to confirm his working hypothesis. When he had tried to confront Hal about it, as they worked together in the Watchtower, it hadn’t gone well at all. 

“It’s nothing.” Hal had said when Bruce had mentioned the new bruises around his neck after a few minutes of silent work. “It happened on a mission. You know how it is.”

It was not noticeable anymore (probably thanks to some make-up, it couldn’t have faded this quickly) but Bruce knew it was there and it was enough to make his blood boil. 

“You weren’t off Earth last week. I checked. And those bruises are recent.” Bruce said.

He was quickly losing his temper. Keeping a reign on it was difficult most of the time, and Hal was making it even worse. He tended to feel more intensely when he was around Hal, probably because the man was an emotion magnet. 

“Yeah ?” Hal said in such a nonchalant way Bruce couldn’t help but think that he was oblivious to the gravity of the situation.

However he could see that despite his calm, lackadaisical tone, Hal’s shoulders were tense. 

“You weren’t doing League’s business either.” Bruce accused him.

Hal just shrugged, still looking at Bruce defiantly. Christ. Jason looked at him that way sometimes, was Hal thinking he would be sensible to the rebellous teenager’s act ? 

“So ?” Hal said, waiting ostensibly for Bruce to say something of interest.

Bruce really tried to stay calm, but Hal was skilled in the art of getting on Bruce’s nerves, which he was quite proud of usually. 

“You lied to me. Twice. I checked for the time before that too.” Bruce said in a very low voice.

He wasn’t going to yell. Hal wouldn’t mind and he would make a fool of himself, he would be considered as being overreacting when he was in truth only checking on Hal and Hal was the one being a stubborn underreacting bastard. 

“Like you never had lied to any of us.” Hal snortled. “We all lie to each other every once in the while, I plead guilty. Get over it. This doesn’t concern you, anyway.” Hal said, starting to whistle some popular song without a care in the world.

If Hal hadn’t been so dismissive about the whole thing, Bruce wouldn’t have chosen this angle, but Hal’s peace of mind was troubling him and he didn’t think before talking. Which he almost only did in Hal’s presence, curiously. Hal was an infuriating man. 

“Is Michael Henson violent ?”

Hal’s apparent tranquility went out the window and he went closer, invading Bruce’s space in what would have worked better as an intimidation tactic if it didn’t give Bruce the urge to gather him in his arms and kiss him.

“What the fuck are you talking about ?” Hal said. 

His voice was no longer calm. It wasn’t loud, but there was anger in there. So much anger. Anger that wasn’t directed at him, Bruce realized. Well, it was a bit but it was directed at Hal first and foremost and he was just collateral damage in this. 

“Considering the marks on your body, my question is reasonable. Is Michael Henson violent with you ?” Bruce asked again, not relenting. 

His voice was no longer accusative, it was softer but still sharp - Hal wouldn’t like pity.  
Hal lowered his eyes for a second, for which Bruce thought maybe he would confide in him, before looking back at Bruce, fire in his eyes. 

It was good to know that Hal still had that fire in him, but not so good to know he was going to try to burn Bruce. Sure enough, it hurt.

“Just because we fucked once when we thought we were about to die, you have no right to dig into my private life. You have no business knowing my boyfriend’s name, and stop asking that.”

Bruce had never been good at taking orders, though. He had never been good at protecting himself from friendly fire either. 

“Is he hitting you ?” he had asked again, unwavering. 

Would Hal ever admit to it ? Because Bruce didn’t need him to confirm it to know, but he wanted Hal to realize what was happening to him. He doubted him and Hal would use the same words to describe Hal’s most recent relationship. 

“Have you listened to what I’ve just said ? Stay out of my business. And for your information, Mike isn’t violent. We just like it rough.” Hal said. 

Bruce knew Hal was going to dismiss Bruce’s concerns so he used his next weapon to open Hal’s damn beautiful eyes to the abuse he was subjected to. 

“Broken ribs, it's a bit too rough, don’t you think ?” he said.

There was a flicker of surprise in Hal’s gaze and he started to back away before realizing he was doing it and getting closer to Bruce again. It was quite disheartening, seeing him clinging to the fiction he had told himself. 

“My medical records are private, you asshole ! What the fuck is wrong with you ? Didn’t Pennyworth teach you to respect other people’s privacy ?” he spat to Bruce’s face.

Using Alfred’s name that way was a low blow that told Bruce Hal would throw anything between him and the truth. Alfred was family, the man that had educated him and Hal was well too aware of that to criticize him innocently. He wanted Bruce to stop asking questions.  
He was trying to protect himself and it made Bruce uneasy to try to put him through this, but he had to. 

“He told me not to look away when faced with abuse. I didn’t become Batman to turn a blind eye to what happens around me. You’re not my first domestic violence case.” Bruce said shortly.

Hal wasn’t going to like it but it was time to call things by their names and Hal certainly wouldn’t do it. 

Bruce was expecting anger from his teammate but Hal just laughed it off. 

“What ? Please, just stop, this is getting ridiculous. Where do you even get this idea from ? Yes, Mike and I fight - that happens when you’re in a relationship with someone, but I guess you wouldn’t know that, um ? And yes, sometimes it gets a bit physical and we take our frustrations out on each other, no big deal. Nothing like abuse.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow in an elegant way which was only performed by actors and, apparently, damn him, Bruce. Hal had crossed his arms and was now looking at Bruce belligerently, ready for a fight.

“Have you ever hit him ? I bet you haven’t.” Bruce said hotly.

Hal’s furor seemed neverending and Bruce wouldn’t have minded if there wasn’t so much self-hatred there. He could recognize the feeling everywhere, no matter how well hidden it was, and it wasn’t that well hidden in Hal’s eyes anyway. 

Hal’s voice had become sharper and Bruce absolutely hated it. 

“What are you on about ? Can’t you just stop talking ? You’ve been saying shit for quite some time now. And what is it about your obsession with Mike hitting me ? It’s not like you’ve never dreamed of doing it. Or never had, even.”

They had come to hands once while arguing after a meeting, and Hal remembered it clearly. His jaw too. They had drunk coffee together afterwards but none of them had apologized. 

“Never when you were out of your suit and vulnerable or not hitting me back.” Bruce replied, and he let the distress he felt filter through his voice.

It wasn’t a voluntary strategic move, but it made Hal hesitate for a second and he touched Bruce’s shoulder lightly, the feelings in his eyes losing their intensity.

“Calm down, it’s not like it’s a common occurrence and I am a big guy, I can defend myself alright if I need to. It was nothing. I just told Mike about you and I fucking and he reacted impulsively. Which is rather understandable, when you look at it.”

Bruce was stunned. Hal finally admitted that his boyfriend was hitting him and thought he would understand ? What kind of man did Hal think he was ? Worse, what made Hal feel like this was okay, that he deserved it ?

“Sorry, you think you can justify his actions ?” Bruce said, and there was a sharp edge to his own voice now.

One that had made some criminals recoil in fear but Hal’s bravoure increased when facing adversity. 

“I fucking cheated on him, so yeah, I think I can. Anyways, I don’t have to justify what happens in my personal life to you, and look, the ring has finished its analysis so we can stop talking about me and concentrate on this.”

Technically, Hal hadn’t been cheating. Well, he didn’t think so since he and his boyfriend were taking a break, but when he had told Mike he had unprotected sex during said break and should take a test before they had sex together again, Mike had gone feral, talking about betrayal of trust and the such. 

He may have pinned Hal to the door and put his hands around his throat a bit roughly, but it was just before kissing him. Nothing mean. Mike was his soulmate, they had soulmarks to prove it. They were destined to be happy together. 

Hal assumed they had just misunderstood each other at some point of the discussion about separating for a while and seeing if they reconnected after that so he just apologized and went along with the slightly aggressive kissing.

Of course, Mike being only a civilian and not used to having blunt force applied against him, he didn’t go as tough on him, not sure he could take it. To be frank, Hal wasn’t sure he liked it, and doubted very much he’d like using that much violence on a lover himself, but Mike had always been so caring, he could let him have that. 

Bruce’s judgemental ass could go to hell, he didn’t understand a thing about love. Or soulmates. Hal wondered briefly about Bruce’s soulmate. Did he even have one ? Some people hadn’t, poor souls. 

“This conversation isn’t over.” Bruce had said, gritting his teeth. 

Hal had rolled his eyes at him and started reading the files on the computer. Bruce and his passion for other people’s lives were so annoying. 

“The hell it is not. You stay away from my fucking life.” he had said, leaving no room to discuss this further.

If Bruce imagined things were wrong so he just could fix them, it was his problem, not Hal. There was no reason his savior complex should affect Hal’s private life.

Victor joining them to decrypt the file had helped to shut Bruce up too. He wasn’t going to talk about their private lives to someone else. Well, Hal could only hope so.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Nowadays**

The patrols would have been a good occasion to talk to Jason, who had been the one escorting him and showing him Gotham’s streets in the first nights, in particular the ones of interest. Hal had never been much interested in the city’s geography and Bruce had never bothered to show him, so he had to learn quickly. 

However, he never tried to talk to Jason about private matters in the field. Bruce’s rules were strict and it had kept them -mostly- alive until now, and it included no personal discussions on patrol. You couldn’t know who was listening in the dark of the night. 

At first, Hal had not been certain about what good accompanying the kids out there would do, but with Jason and Dick arguing against each other’s decisions, he had come to the realization that having a leader they all listened to could prevent them from getting killed. 

That was something else he needed to talk to them about. They couldn’t keep giving contradory orders just because they were pissed at each other.

They hadn’t said a word about it, but Hal was quite certain they had fought the night before, violently. It had to cease. He wasn’t certain they let Tim see it or that it even happened when they were in patrol but they just couldn’t keep fighting each other to the point of injury and hoping Hal wouldn’t say a thing. 

So Hal took the opportunity of being there with Dick and finishing to wrap things up to talk with him. He had rolled his chair next to Dick’s who hadn’t moved an inch but whose tenseness showed he was paying attention, even if he didn’t look like he was looking for a talk.

“You know, Bruce and I aren’t soulmates.” 

Most people started their conversations with inane chatter but Hal hadn’t felt like it that night. The information was enough to make Dick turn towards him. 

“You aren’t ?” he asked for clarification.

It wasn’t something that had even brushed his mind. It didn’t seem to ever brush anyone’s mind, if Hal was honest with himself. Not many people knew, and they had all been rather shocked when they found out about it. 

“No.” Hal said without offering more.

He wanted to see where Dick would go with this. He could almost see the gears in his brain. 

“Selina ?” 

Obviously, Dick had wanted to know who their soulmates were. It was a common question, people were more interested in why you weren’t with your soulmate than in why you were with someone else. Hal just smiled but didn’t say anything. 

Some things were Bruce to share and he wasn’t going to do it for him. That Dick picked Bruce’s first love was amusing, though.

“You’ll have to ask Bruce about it.” he said.

He was going to say more because Dick had gone strangely silent, but the young man spoke again. 

“Did - did something happen to your soulmate ?” he asked carefully.

People usually assumed Hal’s soulmate was dead when they knew he wasn’t with them. You would have to be really strange to not want to date your own soulmate. Well, Hal didn’t mind most of the time. He was, indeed, quite not ordinary after all. 

“He just wasn’t the right person.” Hal said.

Understatement of the year, but he would tell Dick if he pushed in this direction. Usually, people did. Usually, Hal didn’t tell them more. 

“Wait, you gave up on your soulmate ?”

The judgement in Dick’s tone shouldn’t have surprised him, but Hal felt uncomfortable nonetheless. He wanted to yell at Bruce for not talking more about soulmates with his kids. 

The bastard had to let him do it. If he didn’t die - well, if he didn’t die, Hal would be too relieved to say anything.

“I did give up on my soulmate.” Hal confirmed. 

Dick looked utterly outraged, like it concerned him in any way. Hal wondered if his birth parents had been soulmates. Probably, if it was his reaction. They cared about each other, according to Bruce, and it was a good thing but that was why Dick couldn’t understand Hal’s choice, probably.

Maybe he would understand better if Hal told him plainly but he wasn’t very eager to do it. It was a part of his past he didn’t like visiting if he didn’t have too.

Unfortunately, it looked like he had too. Dick seemed to think that leaving your soulmate was a capital crime. Which was the mindset of many people, but many people didn’t have Mike for a soulmate. 

“But why ? Don’t you regret it ?”

Hal tilted his head back and laughed joylessly. The memories were affluing, sparing him nothing. Not the humiliation, not the pain, not the shame… He clang to happier memories. Childhood memories with his brothers, his Mom and his Dad, he had been happy then, before his Dad died. After… It had been hell, after.

And yet. Yet he had survived it, and he had survived Mike, and he had survived many things, and he knew he would survive this too, if he put enough will into it. His will was his greatest weapon. Bruce had told him so, once. 

He wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t left. Would he be dead or lying in a countless hospital bed ? He rubbed his eyes, chasing the imagery away. 

“I don’t regret it at all. Your father is a good man. And he doesn’t hit me, so I guess it’s a plus.” he said, calming down, taking slow, regular breaths.

Dick had looked quite worried about Hal’s sanity for a moment but looked less alert now that Hal had anchored himself in the present time. 

“Did your soulmate - you know ?” he asked. 

Hal cocked his head, looking at the younger man defiantly. Wondering if he would question his words. Some people wouldn’t believe you if you said your soulmate could be violent with you. Your soulmate, how could they ? 

“Did Mike use to beat the hell out of me on a semi-regular basis ? Yes.” he said, rubbing his arm.

The one that had been broken once. Hal had to stop flying for a while and had been miserable - thankfully he had been called into space and even if Bruce had been mad at him for getting in the field while injured (pot, kettle, anyone ?), he had done some Green Lantern’s work happily.

Dick’s jaw hung open. He was going to catch flies if he didn’t do something about it soon. Hal kept looking at him wordlessly, waiting for a reaction he could read more easily. 

“But how - why - how could you let him ? You’re - you’re a Green Lantern ! How could he be stronger than you ?” Dick ended up stammering. 

Oh, Bruce… To be fair, Dick had been the first kid he had ever raised, but his education lacked severely in the human relationships department, and Hal couldn’t say he hadn’t thought it would be a difficult conversation. 

“It has not much to do with strength. It has more to do with mental manipulation. I could have left at the first sign but I didn’t want to give up on my soulmate, because this world makes you think that your soulmate is everything, and it’s not.”

Hal paused for a second, remembering the stories he had been told. Soulmates were supposed to cherish each other, to form an unbreakable whole together. They were supposed to love you and protect you, to be there when you needed them.

Well, his soulmate had been a downright shitty one, but he had Bruce. It was better than having a soulmate, in his experience. However, for how long would he have him ? It had never felt like it would be very long, but it may very well be only a few days, if he didn’t get better. But Bruce just couldn’t die, when he made Hal feel so alive. 

“Also, please never again tell a victim they just “let someone” do things to them. I wasn’t consenting fully to this, I was coerced into it. People get scared or manipulated into believing things are okay. It doesn’t mean it is, it doesn’t mean they agreed to it in the first place.”

Hal had crossed his arms on his chest, his mind far away from here. Mike couldn’t hurt him anymore, not here and now. Things were okay. Except that Bruce was probably dying, and that just wasn’t okay. 

Dick stayed silent for a bit, thinking back about what he had said. Thinking back about a time he himself had been Nightwing and could have been strong enough and - he closed his eyes and pushed his memories away forcefully. 

The silence stretched and Hal started looking at Dick again, noticing the tenseness in his face.

When Dick more or less surfaced, Hal Jordan was looking at him intently, biting his lip in concentration, probably trying to figure out what was going on in his head. Dick didn’t feel like sharing, so he would have to just forget about this, as Dick tried doing. 

“I shouldn’t have said that. Sorry.” Dick offered. “You did leave, though, in the end.”

Hal nodded thoughtfully. He was still watching the younger man suspiciously, having noticed that Dick had curled into himself a bit after his remark, but he kept speaking. 

“If Bruce hadn’t been there… I was lucky to have him.” he said. He didn’t miss the alarmed interrogation in Dick’s eyes. “I don’t like your look. If your next question is ‘are you whoring yourself out of gratitude for Bruce ?’, my answer will be me kicking your ass. We were involved before that.”

Dick’s eyes widened comically. He looked so horrified that Hal almost laughed. Almost. 

“You were involved with Bruce before you left your soulmate ?” Nightwing asked. 

Hal wasn’t wrong about this, it was his Nightwing’s voice. Hal only moderately appreciated how the conversation was turning into an interrogation.

“Do you think it’s justification enough for my boyfriend to break my bones ? I am afraid your moral compass is compromised. Just checking.” Hal said in a low tone. 

Dick’s cheeks turned pink. Hal was glad for it, because he had to feel ashamed for what he had been saying. He knew the kid hadn’t been sleeping much and been under much stress, Bruce’s hospitalization forcing him to put Batman’s suit on again and making him worry about him, but it didn’t mean he had to be insensitive. 

“I didn’t mean you deserved it ! But cheating ?” Dick said, looking at Hal with a disappointed frown.

Hal kept his chin up. He wasn’t going to feel sorry for this. Of course it had been wrong, but he had done worse things in his life. This one wasn’t one he was really ashamed of. Not if it meant it had led to the happiness he had known those last years. 

“Well, I am sorry to hurt your sensibilities but people, even good ones, make mistakes and I don’t think that one was really a mistake anyway. This is the real word, not some optimistic version of it” he said. 

Dick was shaking his head and Hal was starting to think a discussion with Jason would have been a lot simpler, at least he wouldn’t have questioned Hal’s morals.

“Most people don’t cheat on their partners.” Dick was saying, and Hal started wondering if Bruce would mind him getting into a fight with his son. 

Probably. And gearing up and exchanging some punches wasn’t always the best method for dealing with things. Jessica would be proud of him for dealing with this like an understanding, patient adult. Hal’s patience was running thin, though. 

“Most partners don’t hit them. My relationship with your father helped me to understand what was wrong with my relationship with my soulmate. It’s why I got out of it, it’s why I am alive. I won’t apologize for that to anyone.”

Dick nodded after a while. He supposed he could understand it, it was just that all this - it was a bit too much right now. All this soulmates talk… 

“Your soulmate would have killed you ?” Dick asked, when he caught up on what Hal had been saying.

Hal shook his head, seemed to think for a bit, tilted his head and then just shrugged. Would Mike have done it ? Hopefully not willingly but in a fit, could he have ? Would Hal have fought back ? It wasn’t like he had fought him back much in the past, but Hal didn’t want to think about this. He looked at his hands. 

“No. I mean, maybe. I can’t be sure. But I would have killed myself - I was thinking about it.” he said shortly.

He didn’t wish to talk about this either. It had been dark times, that were over now, thankfully. Things were fine, now. Well. Better, anyway. If having his heart carved out of your chest repetitively was an improvement. It was, Hal knew it, but seeing Bruce so unresponsive, so lifeless… 

Witnessing the kids he had grown accustomed to, that he kind of considered like his own, destroy themselves internally, tearing themselves apart… Witnessing Alfred, having to sit down when he heard the news about Bruce’s health… 

“And Bruce prevented you from doing so.”

Hal’s eyes flicked back to where Dick was sitting. It was him who looked at him intently now, but Hal knew he wasn’t giving anything away. Years of training with Bruce could do that. Stop imitating me and come back to bed, Bruce would say when he found him training in front of the mirror of the en suite bathroom in the middle of the night before dragging him back into their room so they could both get some sleep. 

He blinked. He wasn’t facing Bruce, he was facing Dick. He wondered vaguely if it was impolite to think so little of his conversation partner while they were talking, but it wasn’t like Dick didn’t have anything else on his mind too, and anyway he didn’t read minds.

Well, Hal didn’t think so but Bruce’s children never failed to impress. 

“I prevented myself from doing so. Having a respectful, affectionate relationship with Bruce helped me to see how bad what was happening with Mike was. Maybe I could have done so all on my own, but I’d rather not bet on that.”

He had been in a bad place then, relied too much on Mike, didn’t notice the warning signs for what they were. Maybe he would have noticed if he had been older. Maybe not. Maybes weren’t good to linger on. 

“Soulmates aren’t always what is the best for you. In any case, relationships require work. You can’t just hope they turn healthy, you have to work on them.” he added.

Dick’s eyes narrowed and he stood up before crossing his arms. He didn’t look happy. Hal just smiled sadly at him, he doubted Dick was willing to listen, but there were some things he needed to hear. 

“You think I should give up on my soulmate.” Dick said quietly.

How angry he was ! His eyes were burning. Hal sighed. 

“No. I think it’s important that you know that you have options, and that your soulmate is not necessarily the right person for you, no matter what others say.”

Dick seemed to calm down a bit at these words.

“Listen, my soulmate is not like that.” he said, and his voice had gone softer.

Hal wondered if he remembered tender moments with said soulmate. If they even had some or were always quarrelling. Dick’s eyes seemed to say so, and it filled him with hope for them. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll find a way to navigate this. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking from Hal’s part and Dick was only remembering old times.

“Your face begs to differ. A bit too much make-up at the left of your jaw.” 

Dick opened his mouth before closing it and reopening again, bringing his hand to his face, wincing when he touched the place Hal had mentioned.

Definitely heavy bruising. Recent. Hal froze for a second, even if he had known. His own face had hurt before and he had applied to conceal it too. 

“How -” Dick asked without looking at Hal. 

Hal's smile was quite twisted and he was glad Dick was dodging his gaze. He would have seen desperation there. 

“If my relationship with Mike had taught me anything, it’s make-up skills.” Hal said, and his voice was harsher than it should have, but he was feeling sick and worried and it was easier to seem rough than to show his vulnerability.

Bruce and him were really soulmates in their own way, it would seem. 

“It wasn’t like that !” Dick protested vehemently. 

Hal tried to distance himself from his experience. Dick wasn’t exactly wrong, even if he doubted he was completely right. 

“I know. I supposed it happened yesterday when you were in patrol and I was checking on Damian ? He favored his left side when Damian and him were sparing earlier, so I guess you’re even.” he said, a bit bitterly. 

Dick turned to him so fast that Hal barely saw him move. He seemed relatively composed, but Hal had known him long enough to know he was nervous.

“Who told you ?” he asked. 

Hal shrugged. He hadn’t needed to be told. Not that many people could have told him, he imagined, even if he suspected that Alfred knew. Alfred was the best spy among them. 

“Yourselves. The way you interact. The whispers in the corridors, the heated gazes. The simple occasional presence of Jason here. The fact that you don’t spar with each other anymore. Your own insistence at not being called brothers. Many things.” 

It had taken him some time to realize, but he hadn’t been able to unsee it once he had noticed. 

“Does Bruce know ?”

Hal smirked at that. He wasn’t going to be the one to tell him, Bruce would be pissed enough when he would realize Hal had known and kept the information for himself, he wasn’t going to be the messenger. 

“What do you think ?”

Bruce would have said something, because they both knew he would disapprove and he seldom did it silently. 

“Of course not.” Dick sighed, rubbing his forehead.

He looked tired. The last days had been difficult but he needed to open his eyes a bit nonetheless. Life wasn’t easy, they all knew that on a personal level and maybe it was time that his kids realized that Bruce’s life hadn’t been easy either. 

“He doesn’t want to see it and can you blame him ? You two are his family, his sons. No, don’t stop me. Maybe you don’t feel like you’re brothers but you are his kids. He’s not the average Dad but he has childhood pictures of you all on his desk and into his wallet and he talks about you all the time. Jason and you being soulmates change a lot of things.”

Dick looked intently at his tight like he could see something through the fabric of his pants. Probably his soulmark. 

“Not really our fault, is it ?” he said bitterly.

“Well it would look less like a dirty little secret if you hadn’t kept it from him from the start.”

With this, Dick stormed out of the room. Hal was alone when the patrollers went back. Jason looked around and must have spotted Dick’s absence but didn’t say anything before climbing the stairs. Tim said something about getting some sleep and followed Jason. Damian was so tired Hal had to carry him to bed after he changed into pajamas.

Hopefully he was faking it so he could get close to Hal without asking, because if he wasn’t, it had been careless to send him out tonight, even with Jason’s watchful eyes on him. Hal wondered once more if he was that bad of a parent. He knew for a fact that he wasn’t a perfect parent, but was he a shitty one ? He didn’t know the answer to that one.

So he tucked Damian into bed despite his half-hearted protests (Hal had witnessed enough full hearted Damian protests to know he didn’t disapprove) and stayed with him for a bit but the kid asked him to leave not long after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N :  
> In the world I am creating, soulmates are considered the highest form of attachment (spoilers : it's not).  
> People without soulmates are bullied for it, people who are not in a relationship with them are sneered at since your soulmate is supposed to be the mirror of your soul, the core of your happiness.
> 
> Hal's soulmate being abusive is a paradox for him because why would the perfect being for you would treat you badly ?  
> That's also why Dick is reacting the way he is and isn't that nice here. His relationship with Jason is far from the idyllic one he had been promised in children books but he is fiercely protective of it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Seven years ago**

The League didn’t find any lead about the wizard who had almost caused Bruce and Hal’s death and just stopped looking after some time, but decided to keep an eye open for unusual use of powerful magic. 

They chose to limit their space trips to non-human League members (except for Hal, who hadn’t reported any incidents happening to him that could be magic related) for some time during a meeting. Some weren’t very pleased with this but they had to undertake some new security measures of some sort, and humans tended to die quickly when alien wizards could control the oxygen in their ships. 

Not long after the meeting where those decisions were taken, Bruce and Hal had a shift together at the Watchtower. Hal would have asked someone else to cover for him but that would have attracted questions and Hal didn’t want to answer them. He didn’t want people to gossip about Bruce and him.

Sure, they had a good time together even if death had lurked into the corners. However, he was back with Mike now. Being with his soulmate again was a good thing, they shouldn’t have separated in the first place.

It had happened because Hal had overreacted. Mike had been angry because Hal had came home late from his job once again and they had not been able to see each other before morning, since he was doing the night shift. 

It was a valid point. And yes, Mike had hit him so hard Hal had to go to the hospital but he had apologized so many times and bought Hal flowers and he really wasn’t meaning it, he was Hal’s soulmate. Some people just had some difficulties channeling emotions sometimes.

Hal had thought that maybe some time alone would do them some good. Mike didn’t look very pleased but since Hal had been to the hospital, he couldn’t refuse him anything, so as a good boyfriend, he offered Hal a break. Two weeks, actually.

That was during these two weeks that Bruce and Hal had nearly died and taken comfort in each other’s arms but soon enough the decided period had ended and Hal was back together with Mike.

At first, he couldn’t help comparing Mike and Bruce before deciding it was unfair. Of course things seemed easier with Bruce, he knew about Hal being a Green Lantern.  
Maybe Hal should tell Mike, but he was used to keeping this secret close to his chest and didn’t want to scare his soulmate away with it. 

His lantern was still at his old flat. Hal liked keeping it even if he was mostly living with Mike now. 

And he wasn’t living with Bruce. Surely the man would get annoyed with him if they spend as much time together as Hal and Mike had, and he would sigh when dinner was not ready or Hal was late again. Maybe throw a punch there or two when it happened several times in a row, even if he seemed rather against it. 

And Mike didn’t mean it, he was just bad at controlling his strength - Hal looked so strong himself, he couldn’t blame his soulmate to underestimate the power of his fists on him. 

It wasn’t like Hal wasn’t familiar with anger issues, many people in the League dealt with it. He himself had already taken pleasure in breaking someone’s nose if they deserved it. Things happened, it wasn’t necessary making them bad people. 

So Hal shouldn’t get angry at Mike. It was just that the man loved him so much, he couldn’t bear being disappointed. He expected so much from Hal, was convinced he was perfect and it explained his anger when Hal failed to meet his standards. 

That was what Hal was thinking about, on watch duty with Bruce. They had mostly stayed silent, looking at the screens intently and sometimes stealing glances at each other. It was nice, the silence. Hal had been tired.

He had been sleeping badly lately. Well, with Mike working on most nights, that meant he was alone in their bed. Not that he used to mind. 

Sometimes Hal would wake, cold, and wander how much oxygen he had left, how many hours. Those nights, he dressed and went out. He walked all the way to his old flat and undressed in the bedroom before tucking black fabric out of a shelf. He wrapped into it and went back to sleep.

It usually did the trick, and when the sun started raising, Hal woke up and went back to the place he shared with Mike, having slept a few hours. 

Hal tried not to let his mind linger over how and why Bruce’s cape - which wasn’t even that comfortable against skin - had become his comfort blanket. He was just glad Bruce hadn’t asked him to give it back.  
He probably had dozens of them and must have been thinking that Hal had burned it out of spite after one of their disagreements.

He wasn’t sure why he had invited Bruce over for a cup of coffee after their shift. Bruce had accepted and changed into non-Batman clothes. 

They had coffee in the Watchtower and they could have stayed a bit chatting with Barry and Arthur, who were taking the next shift, but Hal had taken Bruce to his old flat, the one he didn’t spend much time in anymore since he had moved with Mike in a better part of the city. 

They both could afford it but Hal had never thought a change of place was necessary, since he didn’t spend that much time home, sharing his time between space, the Watchtower and hotel rooms when he met someone at a bar. 

So he had taken Bruce to his old place and had made bad coffee. They had drunk it peacefully - well after Bruce had choked on it because the bastard was used to much better coffee. It had been getting late and Mike would come back from work in a few hours. 

This thought should have stopped Hal but inexplicably it enticed him to put his cup down next to Bruce’s, to look up in the vigilante’s beautiful eyes and to kiss him.

Bruce had not taken long to kiss him back - he knew a set-up when he saw one, and the whole night had led to this. That night, they found each other again. It was nice to do it without choking back the fear of dying and the urgency of touching someone for the last time. The caresses were less frantic, the touches less messy, their emotions more controlled. 

His mattress was also a nice improvement for their backs. The one in the ship had been too thin. After the sex, there had been some cuddling. Hal had missed it, Mike being much more into the act than into the aftermath. Bruce was spooning him and kissing his neck lazily. They dozed a bit through the next hour. 

After some time, Hal caught the hand that was resting on his hip and stroked small circles on it.

“I have to go. Do you need a ride back ?” he murmured. 

Mike would notice if the sheets were not slept in at all and Hal had no desire to talk about this with him at all.

Hal was starting to feel the shame but Bruce didn’t seem to. Hal wouldn’t meet his eyes, but the man kissed him softly, stroking his cheek lightly before getting out of bed to get dressed. Hal put his clothes back on too but Bruce hadn’t taken him on his offer.

“I’ll find something.” Bruce had assured him as he left. “Go home.” he had added, and Hal couldn’t help thinking there had been a vicious twist in his voice.

He felt guilty enough without Bruce adding to it, even if the phrase may have been casual. Bruce seldom did casual. Hal supposed he had been vexed to be kicked out of his bed. Well, Bruce wasn’t the one covering up an affair, so he could go fuck himself. 

Hal had walked home discreetly, wondering if Bruce had taken the train like a pedestrian or opter for a private jet or something. He hoped the neighbours were still asleep. If anyone asked, he’d blame it on bouts of insomnia, they were getting used seeing him walking at odd hours. It tended to happen when Hal came back from space and had a hard time to adjust back to Coast City hours, so Mike wouldn’t be suspicious. 

And he had gone on even more walks since the near death experience with Bruce, so no one would know this wasn’t just one of his usual walks. 

What a dirty little cheater he made, Hal thought as he fumbled with his keys. Thinking about which potential lies to serve to his soulmate. Hal felt very much disgusted with himself as he closed the door behind him. 

Thankfully Mike hadn’t gotten home yet, so Hal took a shower - he had been too preoccupied to think about it earlier, but he should have offered the opportunity to Bruce, no doubt he was pissed - before going to sleep. Hopefully he could catch some rest before Mike’s return. 

In the next few weeks, Hal found out he was addicted to Bruce’s skin. He yearned to touch him every time, everywhere. It was atrocious. Delicious. Hal couldn’t tell. He was just glad Bruce had a hard time not touching Hal too. 

League’s meetings were a torture, and they usually had sex not long afterwards. 

Hal still felt the guilt when he spent some of the night in Bruce’s arms but it was so good, could it really be a sin ?  
Everything was more or less fine for a while, Hal feeling guilt eating him up but unable to resist his desire for Bruce. 

But Bruce kept pushing about his bruises and minor injuries, begging him to go see a doctor. Thompkins or any therapist he wanted. Hal just shook his head and asked Bruce to stay out of his business. 

Hal went away in space for a bit, and Carol covered for him as usual. “Yes, another one of those seminars. You know how important they are, in our field. Hal had to go, he is our best pilot. No network coverage, I am afraid - because of industrial espionage, you know. Yes, it was last minute, it’s very secretive.” 

Hal had presented Mike to some of his friends and she was the only one who didn’t enjoy his company, maybe because he called her so often when Hal was away. Carol kept a calendar, noting each time Hal had to do his Lantern job and what lie she had served to Mike at the time. Her organizing and lying skills terrified Hal.

It reminded Hal he owed Carol much. He should take her dancing soon. It had been a long time and she loved it but Mike had pressured Hal in cancelling some of his outings so they could spend more time together.

Hal was feeling guilty for seeing Bruce on the side, so he yielded easily. He kept arguing a lot with Bruce, though. Maybe he should have told Bruce that Mike was his soulmate but he hadn’t. He wasn’t sure why. 

He doubted Bruce would stop seeing him just because Mike wasn’t just Hal’s long term boyfriend but also his soulmate. He had told Oliver and Barry, though, so Bruce should know soon enough, anyway.

Mike found out eventually. Hal didn’t even know how, because he never said a word about Bruce. Which was good, because Hal didn’t want tabloids to expose their liaison, it would attract too much attention to him and he doubted Bruce would like it. But if Mike hadn’t found out because of the press, what had happened ? Was it just an inch Mike had ?

Was it something Hal said ? A change in his behavior ?

Would Mike have supposed so even if Hal’s had not been cheating and it was just his anxiety speaking ? 

Mike had just stomped into their room one morning and woke Hal roughly, pulling on his hair to force him to look at him.

“What - what are you doing ?” Hal had said, in pain, tears forming in his eyes.

It looked like Mike’s shift had ended sooner than necessary, because Hal usually woke up before his return when he had not spent most of the night with Bruce, and he hadn’t. Bruce had a late shift with Barry - or maybe Diana ? - and Hal needed the sleep after flying most of the day. 

“You’re cheating on me again.” Mike had snarled, furious.

It wasn’t a question. He knew, Hal thought. He shivered internally - and maybe a bit externally - at the thought. Did he know about Bruce specifically ? Hal didn’t want him to. It was something he wanted to keep to himself.

Like all cheaters did, probably. It was unfair and stupid to think about Mike finding out as an invasion of privacy. 

“I work my ass off to build a lovely life with my soulmate and what do you do ? You cheat on me when I am busy saving lives.” Mike was yelling and crying at the same time.

He had stopped pulling on Hal’s hair - which the man was grateful for because it really hurt - and Hal was massaging his scalp. He usually hadn’t anything against hair pulling -as Bruce could attest- before but this hadn’t been pleasurable at all.

Well, it wasn’t supposed to be. Hal had been cheating on Mike. Cheating, hell. He was starting to feel bad about it. He had been cheating as Mike was working. Working at a hospital. He really felt bad now. 

What had he even thought he was doing ? Sure, sex with Bruce was great but was it worth losing his soulmate ? 

Hal sat properly and took a shaky breath. He was already hiding that he was a Lantern - he should really think about how to break it to Mike, he was his soulmate not just a casual boyfriend -, his whole affair with Bruce needed to stop.

“Look, Mike, it was a mistake, I never meant to hurt you. I am really sorry -” he said, reaching a hand out but his soulmate slapped it away mercilessly. 

Well, Hal could understand. He would have been upset too, if he had been in Mike’s shoes, but Mike was too good of a person to cheat on Hal. 

“You are sorry ? What does he have that I don’t ? I am your soulmate.” 

Mike kept crying and it was making Hal more and more uncomfortable. Why on Earth had he even agreed to have an affair with Bruce ? Had instigated it, to be honest ? Bruce wasn’t the one who couldn’t just let things alone. He wasn’t the one who had a boyfriend, a boyfriend who was his soulmate. Mike was perfect as a soulmate and it was making Hal feel like trash. As he ought to feel, probably. 

“I won’t cheat on you again. I promise.” he said quietly. 

Mike wiped the tears from his face and looked at Hal, untrust written all over his face. Hal’s heart tightened. He thought about the small black circle on his ankle, similar to Mike’s. 

“You said so last time.” Mike said, defeated. 

Hal winced. He had, actually, and he had meant it too but nothing was going to break his resolve this time. He would have asked Mike to take the next few days off and do the same so they could spend some time together but he had a Lantern assignment coming up.

“Look, I am going to go away for two weeks for work, can we just spend the day together and take some time off to talk about this after ?” Hal asked, hopeful.

Things will be okay, he’ll mend anything he had unintentionally - okay, he hadn’t been unintentionally sleeping with Bruce, but let’s say, carelessly- broken. It had been so egoistical of him.

“You know you’re breaking my heart ? I love you so much and you just try to get away from me all the time !” 

Mike looked miserable right now and Hal wondered what he had done, if it was even possible to redo what he had undone. He took Mike’s face into his trembling hands.

“No, I don’t ! Mike, look at me, love. You mean so much. I am sorry if you don’t feel like it. I made mistakes, but I know you’re the one.” 

Hal didn’t know what was wrong with him, because he didn’t want to say these words to his soulmate. But he had to. He would mean them, someday. Obviously, he wanted to. Subconsciously, certainly. Those things took time and were confusing. 

The heartbreak he felt was because he had betrayed his soulmate’s trust, not because he was going to end whatever it was that Bruce and him had, which he would realize when he would feel less sleepy.

So he had sought Bruce out on the Watchtower before his mission and dragged him into a broom closet. It wasn’t a rarity for them, especially before Hal’s GL missions. Instead of answering to Bruce’s kisses however, he put his hands flat on his chest and pushed him away. 

“Stop.” Hal had said quietly, out of breath. 

Great. This conversation would be easier if more blood had been invested in his brain functions, right then.

“Are you hurt ?” Bruce had asked. 

Hal tended to drag him into dark places to make out when he had injuries or bruises that Bruce would notice immediately in broad light. It hadn’t taken long for Bruce to realize it and it angered him every time, but this time his tone was soft, concerned.

Why ? Couldn’t he have yelled at Hal and made this easier ?

“No. Not hurt.” 

He, in fact, was. Mike had a possessive touch to him and his claim on Hal’s body - “to clean him from that whore’s touch” - had been quite rough. Entirely too rough for Hal’s taste but it had been about rebuilding things he had fucked up so he had gritted his teeth and hadn’t said a thing despite the unenjoyable imbalance between pain and pleasure.

“I need to stop this.” Hal said softly.

He should be angry at Bruce for tempting him, for never stating that they should stop this and that it was cheating, for never feeling ashamed about it. But he wasn’t. He was thankful for what they had, in a way. It was something Mike couldn’t give him.

But Hal didn’t want an affair, he wanted a nice couple relationship with his soulmate, and that involved no more cheating. 

“Seeing Mike ?” Bruce asked in a hopeful tone, but it was laced with sarcasm. 

He knew what Hal was going to tell him. Hal closed his eyes but Bruce couldn’t see it in the dark. He wouldn’t cry. He had made his choice, and it involved a nice life with his soulmate.

“No. Us. It has to stop.” 

The words burnt Hal’s throat. There was a small silence and Hal wondered what Bruce was thinking about. If he remembered Hal’s hands and mouth as clearly as Hal remembered his. Or if he was scheduling his next meal and couldn’t care less about this conversation. 

“Okay.” Bruce said.

Hal felt the disappointment to his core, but it wasn’t like he wished his decision would make Bruce miserable. He tried to soften the blow somehow, but he wasn’t sure if he was doing it for Bruce or for himself. 

“It was… good. But I have to stop lying to myself.” 

Bruce had to laugh at that.

“Good luck with this one. Please stop talking, we’re good. Just take care.” Bruce said before slamming the door after him. 

Hal felt sorry for anyone with super hearing in their whereabouts. He didn’t think Bruce was fair, he was making efforts to accept that as fun as being with Bruce had been, he was made for loving Mike. 

And if a part of him clang to the fact that even as he was mad at him, Bruce had told him to take care, well maybe it was better to forget about it. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Nowadays**

Hal had been reading, unable to sleep, when there had been a knock on the door. He went to open it, wondering if Damian was having nightmares. However the person waiting for him at the door was way taller than his son. 

And Hal had never seen Damian look that sheepish. It was obvious Dick felt uneasy.

“I shouldn’t have shut you down earlier but the subject is still a sensitive one for me.” Dick said without any preamble. 

Hal sighed and asked Dick to wait for a second, grabbing a sweatshirt before leading the way to the kitchen.

“I am not doing this without some coffee. Decaffeinated though. You want some ?” 

Dick shook his head and sat on a bar stool, crossing and uncrossing his arms. Hal leaned against the table and Dick met his eyes for a brief second. 

“I realized we were soulmates when Jason died. I didn’t feel like sharing, then.” Dick said quietly.

Hal sighed again. It was more than time that Bruce and Dick mourned the old Jason and welcomed the new one. The old one wasn’t coming back, and the new one had proven to be alright and still a decent person, even if clearly more traumatized and sometimes going on a murderous spree. 

“But then he went back.” he said. 

He too remembered relatively light-hearted Jason quoting Les Trois Mousquetaires and Le Père Goriot or Madame Bovary in French or telling stories about Roman emperors and Arabic philosophers. He remembered catching Jason stealing glances towards Dick and reddening when he received a friendly smile. 

He also knew that some of those things were Jason’s past, not something he aspired to now. Jason had come back from death, it had changed the game. It didn’t mean it wasn’t a part of Jason, just that it wasn’t the whole picture.

“Yes.” Dick rasped out. “He went back.” 

Touchy subject, apparently. Hal understood Jason’s frustration towards his family better. They seldom mentioned his death as such, just saying “before” when they talked about the time before his death. But Jason had died, and needed it to be recognized to get better.

“It had been nearly three years. How long had it taken to Jason to figure it out ?” Hal asked gently.

The only one who didn’t flinch when talking about Jason’s death was Jason himself even if he rarely went into details. Either to spare his family or himself, Hal couldn’t tell. 

Jason cared much more than he let on. Not unlike Bruce. 

“According to him, he had always known. He told me the second time we met again. Hoped I would run away and leave him alone, I guess.” 

It would have been a mistake on his part. Hal doubted that very much, Jason couldn’t have thought seriously that Dick would ever abandon his soulmate like that. If Hal had to place a bet, he had felt lonely or had needed his family but was still angry at Bruce and had murderous feelings towards Tim, which made him turn to Dick.

He must have used his soulmark as a way to be sure Dick would have his back but Hal suspected Dick would have, even without knowing they were soulmates. 

“Well, he had quite a crush on you when you were younger. Not that Bats or you noticed it. It was adorable.” Hal said teasingly.

Dick glared at him on his soulmate’s behalf. It was a good imitation, and for a fleeting second, Hal wondered if Dick trained in front of a mirror when he couldn’t find sleep. 

“You shouldn’t mock him. I have seen the way you and Bruce look at each other.” 

Hal just shrugged. He wasn’t sure “adorable” was the word for how they look at each other. Was there a word for mutual respect, unconditional attachment and shared desire ? 

You know the word for that, he thought for a second. He did, indeed. 

“Speaking of Bruce, do you plan to tell him someday or are you waiting for him to figure it out ?” Hal asked, his eyebrows raised. 

Dick looked away, hid his face into his hands for a few seconds.

“It’s not like we are really together. It’s more of an on and off thing.” he said finally. 

Hal wasn’t very surprised. He doubted Dick and Jason’s relationship had ever been steady. 

“I was talking about you being soulmates, not your dating life.” he said. 

Dick seemed angry, but probably not at him. It was obvious he felt quite deeply about the soulmates topic. And from earlier reactions, Hal wondered if they were even in a monogamous relationship. Probably not from Jason’s side, if Dick’s remarks on cheating were anything to go by. 

“Yeah well it’s inexistant, anyway. Jason is not really the “dine and wine” type. Not with me, in any case. And why would we do that ? Telling Bruce we’re soulmates is just a bad idea. It’s not like you and him had been very open about your own status.”

Hal bit his lip, in shame this time. Bruce had wanted to tell them, but had told Hal he’d wait for as long as he needed. It turned out Hal had needed years but Bruce had not gone back on his word. 

“You just assumed what you wanted to believe. We would have told you if you asked.”

Hal felt a bit like he wasn’t playing fair. He had agreed with Bruce to not lie to the children if they asked, though. 

“Yes, and Bruce did too, or he would be aware of our connection. Maybe we would have told you if you asked.”

Hal hadn’t thought the boy would lie straight to his face and so obviously. He didn’t even try to make it convincing, just looking at Hal in a challenging way, probably looking for a fight. Hal frowned. 

“Dick.”

“Are you insulting me or just saying my name ? I am not sure.” Dick observed. 

Hal rolled his eyes at him - a bad habit he had picked from Bruce - before looking straight at him. 

“Don’t be a brat. Bruce has issues but he’s not the only one in this family. And you know how he is. He’ll come around, with time.” Hal said.

Bruce could never be mad at his children for too long. Even at Jason, who did his best to earn his attention in every possible bad way sometimes.

“Yes, doesn’t look like he’s going to have much of that, does it ?” Dick said, a crooked smile on his lips.

Hal stood and gestured for him to get closer. Dick looked at him suspiciously. 

“Come here.” 

Dick took a hesitant step towards him, trying to guess what Hal was up to.

“Why ?” he asked when he couldn’t figure it out. 

Hal opened his arms. 

“So I can hug you. You look like you need it and I know for a fact that your father isn’t much of a natural hugger.” 

Bruce had hugged him before, and the kids too, but always with a purpose in mind - he had to think about doing it. His hugs were often a bit clumsy and sometimes too tight but Hal liked them that way. 

Dick still looked unsure - wasn’t he too old for this ? - so Hal went to hug him himself instead. He did it briefly to let Dick escape - even if Bruce’s eldest probably could kick his ass if he needed too - but Dick hugged him back, keeping Hal against him a few seconds more.

Hal had been right about the hug, Dick was a tactile person and the last days must have been quite draining for him too. 

However Dick didn’t let himself cry like Damian had the day earlier. Damian. Hal hoped the kid was asleep, now. He should check on him after talking with Dick. 

“I wonder how I could have ever thought you two were soulmates.” Dick said, getting away from Hal. 

Hal smiled at that. 

“Bruce and I are more alike than you realize.” he murmured. 

“The self-destructive tendencies ? Or the talking me down thing ?” 

Dick’s tone was light but Hal was mindful of the words’ edge. 

“I was actually talking about our good looks. And you talk like your boyfriend hadn’t taken so much after Bruce.”

“Please, stop this now. You don’t know what you’re talking about. And Jason is not my damn boyfriend.” 

And with that, Dick was tense and glaring daggers at him again. 

“The neverending anger, the barely controlled rage, the constant self-recrimination and the pushing people away thing ? You think Alfred had never seen that happening to another young man before ?”

Dick crossed his arms on his chest once again. 

“Jason’s not Bruce.”

Hal nodded. Jason was his own man, with his very own issues, but also with very Bruce-like issues. 

“No, he isn’t. But being Bruce isn’t as bad a thing as he and Bruce think it is. And sharing some of his personality with Bruce doesn’t make Jason a bad person either. Jason hates you for being the one who got to be different from Bruce, and you envy him for being the one who is the most like him. You just have to accept it, both of you. ” Hal said sternly.

Dick laughed at him moodily. 

“Is the therapy session over ? Can I go ?” he asked. 

“Do you people in this house realize that talking about what you are feeling is a healthy thing to do or are you all baby Bruces ? I don’t know if therapists do family packages but maybe I should start looking into it.” 

Dick snortled, looking at him disdainfully. He was getting really good at imitating Jason but Hal bet the younger man hated it. Maybe they spent more time together than Hal had realized. 

“You’re saying that like you’d go to therapy.” Dick said. 

Hal smiled at him in such a way Dick took a step back. He looked like the cat that swallowed the canary, truth be told. 

“Oh, I have been going. For the last six years.” he said pleasantly.

Dick didn’t seem convinced. 

“You’re kidding.”

Hal shook his head.

“I had quite a few fights with Bruce over it. Apparently he only needed Alfred - but for what I know, the man is a licensed therapist - and I but I needed an expert. I’ve given up on the idea of getting him an appointment, but feel free to try. You tell me how well it goes.”

Dick smiled at the idea of forcing Bruce to do something he didn’t want to. However, he doubted a therapist could help Hal very much with whatever problems he may have, because they were more likely tied to his Green Lantern job. 

“So how does it go ? You just lie to your therapist about being a space cop and you fake normal people’s problems ? How can that be helpful ?” he asked. 

“My therapist is a fellow Green Lantern. I don’t know if you have ever met Jessica Cruz ? She became a therapist a few years after I met her. She had survived some traumatic events herself and she’s great at her jobs. The GL one and the therapist one. She understands. We have lived through similar situations. Anyway, she’s also doing couple therapy, and maybe, just maybe, you and Jason should consider it.” 

Dick had heard about her. She had a good reputation among the Lanterns and was one of the League’s more or less official therapists. Bruce seemed to hold her in high esteem. 

“We’re not a couple.” Dick said again with gritting teeth. 

Hal shrugged but he kept his gaze on Dick while doing so. 

“I am sure she doesn’t mind how you call it, but I am not sure the word for not-brothers-not-boyfriends-kinda-soulmates-it's-complicated had been invented yet.” 

“Are we having this whole conversation just because you want us to look into counselling ? Bruce isn't even dead yet and you’re already trying to replace him ?” Dick said.

Hal could tell he was furious and that he had only been hurtful because he was in pain himself. He managed to smile despite the sting of the words. 

“Maybe you’re the one who took after Bruce actually, you know how to make a blow land where it hurts. Listen, I am not Bruce, I am not your Dad and I don’t want to be. I’d love to just be the cool guy your father is going out with. That would be great.” 

Dick grumbled something that sounded strangely like “you’d never been cool”. Hal almost smiled.

“Look, Bruce is certainly dying and it’s affecting all of us. And the truth is, we’ve discussed this before. Often.” Hal said.

Dick looked at him, waiting for more. Hal swallowed. 

“You weren’t even an adult the first time we talked about the possibility of him dying and what would have to be done. Jason had died not long ago, and our relationship was… pretty new dating-wise, let's say. It had just stopped being an affair before Jason’s death and we were still figuring out stuff. After… after I wasn’t sure of anything and he probably wasn’t either. He couldn’t bear seeing my bruises, it reminded him of the ones on Jason’s body.”

Hal sighed. It had been hell, then. Hell in Bruce’s life and hell in his, but they had overcome this. And that night, that night they had spent talking and touching and crying, had been the beginning of something different, something important. 

They had trusted each other with their lives before, in the field. After that night, they had trusted each other with much more.

"That night, the light just caught the recent bruises on my ribcage and Bruce broke.”

“He wasn’t the only one to suffer then.” Dick said bitterly. "You have never seen your soulmark turn red, any of you. I was just taking a shower and I saw - I saw the black turning red and I could just say no. No, no, no. It didn't stop. It went entirely red."

It had been terrible. Dick hadn't been able to look at his soulmark for days after that. He hadn't until he stood before Jason's grave and saw the sign on it. 

He had known that Jason's soulmark would be graved on his headstone in an abstract way, in the way he knew he would see his name there, and dates. 

He hadn't known what Jason's mark would look like, though. Hadn't even thought about it.

The sight of it made him fall on his knees, his legs no longer working. 

He had reached for his shirt, lifted it - the mark was there, as red as blood, matching with the one on Jason's headstone. 

Dick had curled up on himself then, sobbing. He had just realized that Jason had been his soulmate and he hadn’t, he hadn’t been there, hadn’t…. Jason had been alone in this. 

Alfred had been the one who found him there and brought him back in the house, shivering. 

Dick realized he had been lost in his memories when Hal talked again. 

“I know, and Bruce knows and you can’t imagine how sorry he is to have failed you then - and he didn’t even know about the soulmates thing -, but I have to finish this. Where was I ? The bruises. I had to cover them because he went in full breakdown at their sight and for once he told me what he felt, and it was all about Jason dying and his fear of you dying too and also about leaving you alone if something happened. Tim wasn’t in the picture yet.”, Hal remembered. 

“Believe me when I say I wasn’t ready at all to be a parental figure for a teenager, but he made me promise I would take care of you if anything happened to him and I don’t give my word lightly.

With their work, Bruce dying had been a very possible thing and Hal had known this. He was willing to change everything about his life if he ever had to take Bruce’s kid in. 

“He planned to have me raised by his fuckbuddy if he died ?” Dick said.

Hal snortled.

“Nice words you’re saying there. Spending any time with Jason, by any chance ? The fuckbuddy was also his teammate and a trusted friend and is now kind of your stepdad. Also, you can just call me Hal.” 

Dick didn’t really look ashamed. 

“What I meant was that Bruce cares for you, he did even when he failed to support you correctly. He never said I had to act like your Dad, but he wished for me to step in and offer advice or a shoulder to cry on if needed, to be someone you can trust with your problems and go to when you don’t know what to do. Of course Clark and the rest of the League would have helped, and I am not ever going to be Bruce.” 

“But Bruce asked me to be family, not only for my son but for you too, his other kids. If - and I swear I hope it would never come to that -, if he dies now, I will have to raise Damian on my own. Tim too, but he’s almost an adult and I think he’ll vote for emancipation over adoption, but I’ll keep checking on him and I hope he wouldn’t move out too soon.”

“Alfred would help you.” Dick remarked.

Hal shook his head and looked straight at Dick.

“Alfred is getting old, and Damian has a complicated upbringing. He is finally feeling at home here, and I can’t imagine what grief will do to all the progress he made regarding socialisation. You can fight me all you want later, but right now we need to be a family. And that’s why you and Jason should make up. Quickly, preferably, and for some time. I need help, and I need it for yesterday. And this isn’t just about me needing help so I can do Lantern work and be a Dad, it’s also about you two needing your family close.” 

Dick had stayed silent, probably summing up his options. He looked undecided yet, so Hal kept talking. 

“I haven’t figured out yet how to be a Green Lantern, how to keep Gotham safe, how to take care of terrified kids with anger management issues without a co-parent and how to make sure they don’t give their old butler slash grandfather figure a heart attack at the same time while also checking on Bruce and doing some work for the League.” Hal admitted. 

Too many things were on his shoulders, he needed help to bear his burdens. So yes,he’d love Dick’s or Jason’s help on this. Also, he wasn’t sure he trusted themselves to deal with grief healthily on their own. 

But Hal was very conscious that Dick would be more receptive to the “I need help” than to the “you need help” part.

“It isn’t just about patrolling. Bruce needs you to be there for your siblings and Alfred. I need you. Your arguments with Jason can wait, for once just play nice and ignore each other. We need you both, and it’s going to be way easier if you’re not fighting daily over who’s Bruce’s favorite kid. Spoilers : you all are.” Hal said tiredly. 

His conversation with Dick was exhausting him. That and maybe the fact that he had been having trouble sleeping lately and that it was 4 a.m. . He took a breath before feeding new pieces of information to Dick, hoping he would make a reasonable choice.

“People volunteered to help. There’s a vigil at your father’s bedside. I have taken some time off work so I can manage but Superman said he could check on the city and Barry offered to come over to cheer you kids up.” Hal said carefully.

Dick’s mouth twisted, probably at the thought that anything could cheer them up. He didn’t like being called a kid much, but had more or less got used to it when Hal was concerned. 

“Please tell me you didn’t hand our city to Clark. He would devote his life to make it a better place.” Dick said, shaking his head.

Hal couldn’t tell if he was serious or not - it was probable Dick couldn’t tell either, he was starting to feel like he should call it a night.

“I said no because I don’t think Bruce would have appreciated it, but I will ask for help from the League if I don’t have yours. What Bruce wants, what Alfred wants and what I actually want, is to be a family, no matter how dysfunctional but we’re not going to force you and I need to be a Green Lantern too, so I need help here. So, the question is : what do you want ?”

Dick’s gaze was unwavering and Hal knew he would do anything for his family, but soulmates matters were a different deal. Many people betrayed their principles for them. 

Not Dick, it would seem. He nodded. 

“Okay. I’ll stay for Tim and Damian. Seeing Alfred will do me some good, I guess. But you ask Jason about this.” 

Hal sighed. This was the conversation that was supposed to be easy, let’s just say he wasn’t in a hurry for the one he needed to have with Jason. 

Dick turned his back on him. He was almost out of the room when Hal spoke again.

“I’ll do it. But, Dick ? Please ask yourself a question for me. Who are you angry at ?”

Dick just closed the door quietly and leaned on it, his hands hiding his face. He knew the answer to this one, and it wasn’t Hal or Bruce. Maybe not even Jason.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a beast of a chapter.

**Seven years ago**

His GL mission had been physically tiring and emotionally draining. When he went back, he wished he could go to Bruce for comfort but decided against it - he had made a promise to Mike - and went home after a detour by Ferris Air to harmonize his and Carol’s versions.

“I don’t like your boyfriend much.” she ended up saying as they worked on the details. 

Hal frowned. Everyone and their grandmother liked Mike. 

“Try to get used to him, he’s my soulmate.” he said a bit coldly.

Not many knew this, just Oliver and Barry. Strangely, Hal hadn’t felt like sharing this piece of information with most of his friends. It didn’t impress Carol, who didn’t have a soulmate and didn’t really want one.

“Seriously ? I can’t help but think that you deserve better.” she said, frowning. “Him calling all the time to know what you’re doing isn’t cute, Hal. It’s controlling.”

Hal just shook his head at her angrily and went back home. Mike was adorable with him, covering him in affection and gifts, forgiving Hal for Bruce - after having asked many uncomfortable questions Hal had tried to brush off - and being very nice with Hal, who needed it after the mission and appreciated it.

Things were nice. Hal went out sometimes with his friends, and Mike didn’t seem so grumpy about it.

After his return from space, Hal noticed that Bruce joined League’s outings way more often. It had never been his thing, but suddenly he was everywhere - at Diana’s birthday party, drinking beers and watching baseball on Ollie’s couch, at the dinner organized by Clark… Everywhere.

Maybe it was just because he felt alone, but it was strange nonetheless. Maybe he was with someone else who was in the League too and liked going out. 

Maybe he was just checking on Hal, keeping his files updated. Hal started wondering if paranoia was sexually-transmissible. 

Anyway, his reasons to participate more in the League’s social life were probably unrelated to Hal. It had started before his return. Maybe he thought of it as mandatory socializing with his teammates to build trust between them or he was looking for someone else to warm his bed or something. He wasn’t keeping tabs on Hal. 

Well, no more than usual, because let’s be honest, Bruce had files on all of them, and new information probably kept being added to them. Sometimes, he really hated Bruce. 

But then he remembered Bruce’s surprised smile that time he had fallen asleep in Hal’s flat and instead of leaving a post-it in the kitchen, Hal had made breakfast at dawn for them to share in bed before he had to go back to the flat he shared with Mike.

He remembered finding out Bruce was ticklish and taking advantage of the situation. That had been a fun night.

He also remembered Bruce’s nuzzling his neck in his sleep, muttering “cold” and bringing Hal closer with the arm wrapped around his torso. 

And suddenly he didn’t hate Bruce so much.

Hal missed it, if he was honest with himself. Being with Mike was fine, but spending with Bruce felt nice, and it wasn’t the same thing, Hal had started to realize. 

That night, they were all at Bruce’s - Hal had looked for an excuse but Barry had said it was nice to have an occasion to see Hal again and it had been too long since the last time they had seen him. 

Hal had spent a few weeks more in space and the rest of the time apologizing to Mike for having such an unreliable job (he’d apologize for Mike’s calls about this to Carol later - flowers may be in order), staying in rather than going out to show that of course he cared about his soulmate.

“Hal, you’re here !” Barry had exclaimed, delighted, when he had entered the room. 

His smile reminded Hal he had come willingly and should play nice with Bruce. He took a look around the room but couldn’t spot him at once.

Barry chatted lightly about his workday - from which Hal gathered that he had met a charming journalist and that Barry’s colleagues were assholes - and asked Hal about Ferris Air - which reminded him he was still at odds with Carol and should do something about it. Hal told him he was taking some night flights so he could spend more time with Mike, who had night shifts at Coast City public hospital. 

Ollie joined them and poured something - whisky ? - probably ridiculously expensive in a glass and handed it to Hal before kidnapping him from Barry - who didn’t seem to mind much as he went closer to the buffet - and gave him a room tour to greet everyone else. 

“Where is our charming host ?” Hal asked when he noticed Bruce’s absence. 

“Getting ready, I think. Worse than a girl, I swear.” 

He repented when Dinah pinched his side. She had joined them not long after Hal had, having some business to take care of as Black Canary before. 

“How long have you taken this morning in the bathroom, again ? The water had almost ran cold.”

“Impossible, babe. Not with what I pay for it.”

“Uh uh. Anyway, Oliver is being unfair. Jason had been sick and Alfred had called Dr Thompkins. I met her as I went in. I think Bruce just went to check on him but the boy has the flu, he probably needs sleep, so Bruce should be back soon.” she said as Bruce entered the room in her back. 

Hal nodded. He tended to forget that Bruce had children. Most of the League hadn’t. He wondered what kind of fear it could induce and understood Bruce’s fascination for security better at this moment. 

Bruce navigated through the crowd of League members, answering some questions and laughing along at some jests, attracting everyone’s gazes but not seeming to mind. 

Soon enough, he was next to their small group.

“You fit this lovely dress really well, my dear.” Bruce said to Dinah, kissing her hand extravagantly.

It made her laugh and slap his shoulder. Oliver rolled his eyes at him while Hal watched in amusement.

“Back off, you scoundrel.” 

Bruce smiled and leaned over to kiss Oliver’s cheek sopily. The man made a disgusted sound and pushed him away. 

“Don’t be jealous, it doesn’t fit your complexion. As dashing as ever, Oliver.” he said with a wink and Hal was glad to be there to see it.

He and Dinah were laughing as Oliver spluttered. Spending time with Mike was fine but honestly, he had missed this. His eyes caught Bruce’s sparkling mischievous ones.

“You too, Hal.”, he said more quietly. “I didn’t know you would be there.” 

Hal cocked his head a little bit, still smiling but a bit unsure. Full forgiveness was doubtful in their situation. 

“And yet you were the one to issue an invitation.” he answered softly, because tender feelings just didn’t die when you broke up with someone. 

Their conversation felt intimate and maybe it was, because Dinah was throwing him weird looks. Oliver seemed totally oblivious, but it was usually a facade, most of human Leaguers having good observational skills - it was what kept them alive. 

“Oh, Alfred sends the invitations. But the truth is, it has been a while since the last time we have seen each other. I started wondering if you had chosen to be a hermit.”

Hal wondered if it was a jab or a simple question. Before he could find an appropriate answer, Oliver had spoken.

“I doubt that very much. I don’t think you can call spending all your free time retreating in your own little world with your soulmate being a hermit. It’s not very celibacy-friendly if you know what I mean.” Ollie had said, laughing. 

Dinah had sighed. 

“Always so charming.” she mumbled, but it was obvious she was trying not to smile. 

Bruce had paled considerably, to the point where Hal had gone closer in case he fainted but Dinah and Oliver must have thought it was a trick of the light because none of them looked worried. In all fairness, none of them knew about what had transpired between him and Bruce. 

“Is Mike your soulmate ?” Bruce asked. 

Hal lowered his head slightly, blushing. He hadn’t told Bruce, knew he wouldn’t approve. It seemed a bit more than that, Bruce looked like he was going to throw up. 

“Oh, you have met him ? Great guy, right ?” Oliver was saying. 

Bruce had frozen on the spot, his haunted look fixated on Hal, waiting for an answer. At some point he must have realized what he was doing because he finished his own glass in one go, which made him look a bit more human if a bit strange.

“I - yes, he is. Um. I thought I had told you ? And no, Oliver. Bruce doesn’t know Mike personally.” Hal said quietly.

Oliver smiled at Hal and then looked at Bruce, who looked a bit more composed. 

“Tsk. A shame. You’d love him. And you, instead of keeping him all to yourself, you should show your soulmate off. He’s a real catch. Of course, you’re one yourself so what did we expect ? But honestly, he’s kind and -”

Bruce put his hand on Oliver’s shoulder to stop him. 

“I should get moving, there was something I wanted to talk to Clark about. Please enjoy the party.” Bruce said, taking his leave before leaving the room altogether, actually ignoring Clark who was in his path.

“Did I say something wrong ?” Oliver inquired quietly. “Is he on a dry spell or something ?” 

Dinah elbowed him but he dodged most of it, accustomed to her moves. Hal loved seeing them together, anticipating each other’s moves as only soulmates could do. 

“Soulmates had always been a touchy subject with Bruce.” Dinah said, shrugging, but her piercing eyes were on the door.

Knowing her, she was going to corner Bruce and make him talk about it when he reappeared. If he did. Hal doubted it somehow.

“Hal ?” 

“It’s nothing. You shouldn’t bother Bruce with it, though.”

“You know something.” Dinah said, taking his wrist. 

Hal looked at the pattern on Dinah’s nails - flicks of gold spiraling on a dark blue background in a hypnotic way - a bit too long. 

“Him and I have a history. Kind of. I don’t want to talk about this and I don’t think Bruce wants to either.” Hal said. 

“That explains things about that night.” Oliver said after a few seconds of silence.

It was bait, and Hal knew it, but his curiosity made him indulge his friend.

“What do you mean ?” he asked, waiting for an explanation or some jest.

He wasn’t expecting what Oliver said next.

“That message he registered when you were about to die for lack of oxygen. It was sent.” 

Hal did a double take and almost dropped his glass. He put it down on a tray. What had Bruce done exactly ? 

“He did what ? When ? Oh. I must have been asleep. He didn’t tell me about that ! What did he say ?”

Hal was becoming frantic. Bruce had the knack for unnerving him even when he wasn’t there. 

“Maybe you should ask him.” his friend suggested. 

Hal just rolled his eyes at him. 

“Oliver, please. We’re barely on speaking terms. You have not helped with that, by the way.”

Oliver looked sheepish at that, and that was probably the reason he yielded. 

“Sorry, but it wouldn’t have happened if you had told us. Yes, yes, the message. Let’s find some quiet place.” 

They went out in the unlit gardens by the French doors. Hal handed his jacket to Dinah, who thanked him. It was a bit cold. 

There was light on the second floor in what may be the library. Hal wondered if Bruce was there, or if it was Alfred maybe. 

“You don’t mind if I listen to it too ?” Dinah asked, dragging Hal’s mind back with them. 

Hal shook his head. He had known Oliver first but he had learned to love and trust Dinah too, and Oliver was unable to keep things from his soulmate anyway. 

Oliver held out his phone and played a recording. Bruce’s voice filled the air. He pushed the sound level down lightly. 

_“Bruce speaking. For Oliver. Hal has fallen asleep but I don’t want to wake him. I know he would have left a recording if he had the chance, so it’s what I am doing now. We’re going low on oxygen supplies and we are going to die soon.”_

Oliver paused the recording.

“I received my message and Barry’s - the two have similar forms but Barry is significantly shorter and you’ll understand why - in the Watchtower, since it was my shift. I didn’t know you had been in danger in the first place, and Bruce forgot to send a “finally we’re okay” text so the only thing I got when you went into a more Watchtower-friendly orbit, was this. You can’t imagine what it had done to me.”

Dinah took his hand then, and Hal could see it - probably a panic attack or two and lingering nightmares. 

“Sorry about that.”

Oliver just shrugged. It wasn’t Hal’s fault. He pressed the screen once more.

 _“I am sorry about this. I know how close you are with Hal and believe it or not, I ended up liking you well enough, despite all your best efforts. I know you will take care of Hal’s family if they ever need you and I am glad for it. I’d like to ask you to extend the courtesy to my own family. Alfred is going to need help and Clark would be too much of a mess at first.”_ Bruce was saying in a steady voice. 

Hal couldn’t help but admire and respect his calm, speaking of the arrangements that needed to be made after his oncoming death. 

_One last request. Look, I don’t mind what the world is told about my death, but I am going to require something from you. Don’t let Jordan’s memory fade. Hal’s, I meant. I think we’re on a first name basis now. It’s a hilarious story you’d love to hear about certainly but if anyone’s, it would have been Hal’s to share, so I guess nobody will ever know about it. Anyway, you can’t let that happen to Hal.”_

Hal felt the warmness in Bruce’s voice on his skin. Smiled at Bruce’s respect of his privacy and his underlying need to brag.

_“He was your friend, and mine. I know you can’t tell the world he was a Lantern, but don’t let the League ever forget about this. He can’t be buried in his Lantern uniform, of course, but if I had to venture a guest, don’t put him in a dress suit. His flight suit would be his preference. He is a pilot first and foremost.”_

That was pretty moving. Well, nobody had ever considered Hal’s wishes about the outfit he should wear at his funeral before, so maybe it was the reason Hal felt so warm. 

_“I am done with the requests but if you feel like giving some money to the Wayne Foundation as a parting gift, don’t hesitate. I am joking, in case you can’t tell. Now, I am just going to tell you what Hal would probably have.”_ Bruce paused there. 

Hal wondered what Bruce said, how much he knew about his friendships. Maybe Dinah was cold despite the jacket because she went closer to him and grabbed both his arm and Oliver’s, bringing everyone closer.

_“Hal was glad to be your friend. He thought of you as of a brother - well, I think so but he may have had a slight crush on you at first. I don’t blame him, you’re a good guy and he seemed to like the self-important ones with weird hobbies. You remember the taxidermist ? I do. She gave me the creeps.”_

Hal rolled his eyes at the comment on his healthy early interest in Oliver and smiled at the comment about Laura. They were no longer together but he really liked that girl.

Oliver paused the recording again. Hal could tell he wondered if Bruce was thinking about himself too when he mentioned Hal’s type. Hal did. He took a shaky breath, Dinah’s supporting hand on his back. That was much to absorb. 

“You’re okay ?”

Hal nodded, gesturing for him to put the recording back on. 

_“So, I was saying Hal cared about you very much and I know you like him a lot too. You’re going to be miserable, but you have to fight this. Tragedy happened to all of us and I know it has affected you greatly too in the past but you have to keep from drowning yourself in your sorrows. You owe it to Hal and Dinah. She was his friend too, and I don’t have the time or the energy to make another recording just for her, but Hal knew this and she mattered to him. He wouldn’t want you to tear each other apart because of his death.”_

Dinah let her head rest on Ollie’s shoulder, squeezing Hal’s arm. 

_“Resist this, Oliver. Hal loves you and doesn’t want this. You need to mourn him, but you need to remember that he had dedicated his life to a greater cause and that we have too. In order to keep doing so, you have to accept his death. Take your time but make peace with this.”_

Hal felt speechless. Bruce must have spent so much time here, telling Oliver what he thought Hal would want him to hear. 

_“My message to Barry is going to be dreadfully short if I keep going on, so please tell him those lines are for him too. I trust you to know which lines refer to you both. Support each other. Having Hal’s friendship is an honor, and you should honor it. Keep fighting.”_

Hal’s hand was on his mouth now. The things Bruce was saying here… Dinah squeezed his arm again. 

_“I know Hal loved watching baseball with you and Barry even if he thought your taste in beers was shit. He liked fighting alongside you because of the whole brothers-in-arms thing. He never told you but he knows about what happened to Colin the goldfish when you had to take care of him when he was in space. Told me the next one had different eyes. I know he didn’t mind you taking ages to give him back his video games since it gave him an excuse to come over and play with you.”_

Bruce remembered Hal telling him stories about his pets from maybe two years ago ? Even Hal didn’t remember that ! The truth was, if Hal had been the one telling all this to Oliver, he would have collapsed in the middle of it. Sure, Ollie wasn’t Bruce’s best friend, but Hal marvelled at his ability to hold his shit together. 

_“Hal would have said all of this better than me. I forbid you to disappoint him. Life had already been harsh enough on him. You’re probably wondering about some things. In his last hours, Hal had been the brave and kind man we know he is until the end, if it’s of any comfort for you. It is for me, knowing he stayed true to himself until the end.”_

That was such a Bruce thing to say, letting his friends know he had kept his dignity until the end. They all could hear that his voice was cracking a bit on the last part. Maybe it was the recording, but Hal doubted it. 

_“We argued for a bit, but he made me promise to stop, so we’re not even leaving this place on bad terms, which may be a bit out of character for us but may feel like relief for you. I promise I didn’t do anything to make it harder for him that it already is.”_

Bruce’s voice was firm again. 

_“I am prone to mistakes but I did my best to make him feel appreciated and safe in those last moments. He is asleep now, and I don’t know if he’ll wake before the end. I hope not. Facing my own death is not as difficult as I think it would be - and isn’t it depressing, thinking I don’t mind dying so much, after all I have done to overcome the urge - even if I know I am going to miss much (Dick and Jason’s hopefully long lives, and, I suppose, your wedding, for instance). The reason why I can’t stop talking to you is, I guess, that I can’t stop thinking about Hal dying.”_

Dinah turned to Oliver then, and Hal realized it was the first time she heard the recording, even if she had to deal with its effect. She still had her hand on Hal’s biceps but her attention was all on her soulmate. If he had to listen to this before knowing they were safe, Hal could get why it procured another layer of trauma. 

You could hear the fear in Bruce’s voice and it was horrific. 

_“It’s probably worse for you, since he is dead, but looking at his innocent-looking face as he sleeps is breaking me more certainly than any words he could say would. Watching a friend dying would do that to you, apparently. I want you to know he had no choice in this and would have fought it if he could. We’ve both come to terms with what is happening, though. Hal’s last words to me were about having the life he had wanted to and having made friends with the right people. I can only suppose it meant you.”_ Bruce was saying quietly.

Hal didn’t know if he want to kiss Bruce or murder him. Had he somehow thought it would be cathartic for Oliver to hear this ? Because Hal was certain it was more traumatic than Bruce had intended it to be. 

He, Dinah and Oliver were all huddled together now, shaking a bit. It wasn’t because of the cold. 

“That’s wrong.” Hal said, pausing the recording.

“Yes well, maybe he didn’t want to tell us your last words were ‘the sex was really good’. Would make a good epitaph but I think Bruce likes his privacy.”

Wrong. Bruce had always protected Hal’s privacy, not his. Hal shook his head. 

“I meant I wasn’t talking about you. Don’t get me wrong, I love you guys. But I was talking about him. Should have realized he wouldn’t take it that way.” he said before listening to what was next on the recording.

_“We had a good run and we enjoyed it while we could. I checked on Hal. He is still sleeping and drooling on my cape. I guess one more of those life goals of his had been accomplished.”_

Shockingly, Bruce could sound half-fond and half-exasperated while recording a goodbye letter. Dinah was looking at Hal’s pointedly but said nothing.

Hal tried not to think of the feel of the cape against his skin. 

_“Know that I did my best to offer Hal’s comfort and gentleness in those trying times. However Hal, bless his soul, couldn’t be outdone. When your time comes, I can only wish for you to have such a partner at your side - preferably not a dying one, though. I did a mess of this, didn’t I ? Knowing Hal, he’ll forgive me. I’ve always found him too prompt to forgive, but right now I appreciate it.”_

Hal took Dinah’s hand into his and squeezed. 

_“I wish you a long and happy life, with Dinah at your side, and we both know Hal wish you this too. I imagine him saying that no, you shouldn’t name your first son Harold Bruce in our memory and I do agree, Harold Bruce is a dreadful name. Until we meet again, if we ever do. Wishing you happiness, your friends Hal and Bruce. End of the recording. Bruce out.”_

The end felt a bit rushed, probably because Bruce realized he hadn’t much time left and other things to record. 

“Hal ? Do you want to talk about it ?” Dinah asked. 

Hal looked back at the Manor, the lit room they had gotten out of. He could see people laughing and dancing there. It would have been easier to not know, but he had to listen to Bruce’s recording because he had no self-restraint. 

“There’s not much to say, is there ?” Hal laughed but it came out more like a sob. “Why does he have to make my life so much more complicated ? Uh ?”

“Hal, slow breaths.” Oliver suggested before providing an example. 

The Green Lantern concentrated on Oliver’s breathing to mimic it. It took him a few seconds before getting back to a more natural breathing pattern. 

“You realize he is in love with you ?” Dinah said in a voice far too gentle.

Her voice was never that gentle and it rattled Hal, that she felt the need to speak that way to him. He wasn’t an upset child. 

“I already have a soulmate.” he croaked. 

Dinah hugged him lightly, like she was afraid to do it tighter. Hal wanted to yell that he wasn’t going to break but didn’t have the strength. 

“It happens. It’s fine.” Dinah said, releasing him. 

Oliver wasn’t saying anything. Hal supposed he was assessing the situation and letting Dinah lead the investigation. 

“No, it’s not. I wish I had never met my soulmate so it wouldn’t be so damn complicated.” 

Dinah was surprised she grabbed his wrists instinctively. 

“You - Hal. You wish you had never met your soulmate and not Bruce ?”

Oliver had looked at Hal too. 

“I am not having a breakdown because Bruce is - was, anyway - clearly in love with me. I am having one because I am in love with him.” Hal said through his teeth. 

Dinah let go of him abruptly. Hal couldn’t see her that well with only the light coming from the Manor and the occasional moonray to illuminate them but he could tell she hadn’t been expecting this. 

“You have a soulmate.” she said, like it was mutually exclusive. 

Well, some - many - people thought so. Hal had thought so too. As difficult as it made his situation, he was glad that his soulmate wasn’t his one true love, though. 

“Yes well, sometimes it’s not enough. What did you say ? It happens.” Hal said softly. 

He had known, deep down, that they wouldn’t understand. He hadn’t understood it himself at first. It didn’t mean their disapproval didn’t hurt, they were his friends. 

“Hal. Are you certain you’re in love with him and not with the idea of him being in love with you ?” Oliver finally spoke. 

He hadn’t since Hal’s little confession and Hal was starting to wonder if he had taken all this time to formulate this in the most insulting way possible. 

“Fuck you, Oliver.” he said, distancing himself from the couple.

He didn’t flee though. Where to ? And it wasn’t like the evening couldn’t be saved. Maybe they could go back in and have a drink or something to eat. 

“I am just saying… Mike spends a lot of time working, and you’re not often home so... “

“Ollie.” Dinah warned.

Hal chuckled and shook his head. Did anything matter anymore anyway ? He could tell them. 

“Believe me, I did my best for this to work. I’ve tried being a good soulmate, God knows if I tried. I just can’t do it anymore. And maybe, just maybe Bruce is right about this and was right all along.” 

“About what ?” Dinah asked, pressing him. 

Hal hadn’t felt like talking a few minutes ago but couldn’t stop now. 

“About a lot of things. That maybe I wasn’t the bad soulmate there. That I didn’t have to put so much on the line for the sake of one relationship. That I deserved better. Mike told me he loved me so many times, but Bruce, Bruce was the one to show me what it means, really loving someone. Mike is my soulmate but he never did. I should have noticed earlier.”

“You’re going to dump him.” Dinah realized, looking at Hal for confirmation. 

Hal nodded, crossing his arms. He felt like it was getting cold and maybe he had been a little too quick to lend his jacket to his friend. However he couldn’t tell if the cold came from inside him or from outside. 

“His “love” was hurting me. Is hurting me. I thought he would change for me, that things would get better. At the moment, they are. But for how long ? How long before the next bruises, the next broken bones ?”

“Hal, are you saying Mike has been hurting you physically ?”

Oliver’s voice was strangely hollow and there was something dark there. Bruce wasn’t the only vigilante Hal was going to talk down from paying a visit to Mike. Hal felt a bit warmer at the idea. 

“Bruce knew.” Dinah whispered.

Oliver hadn’t realized that, apparently but Hal wasn’t surprised Dinah had. She knew Bruce better. 

“Yes. I shouldn’t have started an affair with a detective.” Hal said quietly.

There had been enough lies and half-trues. When Hal had said he had an history with Bruce, his friends seemed to have assumed it had just been a one-time thing that happened for comfort in a difficult situation. Hal braced himself for potentially hurtful comments. Cheating was seldom encouraged. 

“Hal, how long have you two been together ?” Dinah asked and she sounded exasperated. 

There was much Hal had hidden from them, those last months. 

Oliver was speechless, which was a funny thing to witness really because Hal was certain he had many things - not all nice ones - to say about Bruce and Hal fucking behind Mike's back.

“We broke up two months ago. We’ve been more or less together for maybe seven, eight months before that ?” Hal said, shrugging.

He had stopped keeping count. It wasn’t like it mattered anymore. There was a small silence, one that Hal enjoyed because he doubted Oliver was going to stay silent about all of this for long. 

It turned out Hal had been right, but he took no pleasure in the fact. 

“Have you ever considered talking to your friends about, I don’t know, what happens in your life ?” Oliver boomed. 

“We could have this very mature conversation later. I am going to make a phone call and then I’ll go find Bruce and see if there’s anything left to fix.” 

A shadow moved and all of them tensed, putting themselves in combat positions. The shadow moved forward.

“You’ve already found me.” Bruce said softly, standing out of the shadows to stand in a spot lit by the moonlight.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Nowadays**

Hal had finally gone to sleep at 5 a.m., not long after the end of his conversation with Dick. He had fallen asleep eventually, to be shaken awake by Jason - with the delicacy of a small tornado - only a few hours later.

Hal had sat up quickly, blinking, before being able to focus on the familiar face. He could read the fear in it, that Jason hadn’t even tried to mask. Not good. Not good at all, downright scary even, Hal couldn’t even remember the last time he had seen Jason scared himself. 

Better fear than desperation but it was still not good. Hal got out of bed immediately, looking for a shirt to put on. He had slept only in his sweats.

“What’s wrong ? Who -”

Jason had cut him off. 

“Alfred asked for a family reunion in the living-room, he said it was important. Leslie is going to be there.” he said as they walked through the corridor.

“Fuck.” Hal muttered under his breath.

Okay, okay. It would be okay, but that wasn't good. Not good at all, it wasn’t even 8 o’clock. 

Dick joined them, shutting a door between him. 

He looked like he hadn’t been able to get much sleep either, which made sense. But Hal was pretty sure the room he had just gotten out of was Jason’s. He wondered briefly if Dick had just been looking for his soulmate or if he had actually spent a few hours here. Nevermind. They could talk about this later.

As they walked into the living-room, Hal caught sight of Damian already sitting there with Tim.

“Are you certain he should be there ?” Dick asked hesitantly, looking at his younger brother.  
Clearly, he wasn’t expecting good news either. Hal shrugged. If it was anything bad, and it probably was, he would have prefered to be the one to break the news to Damian but he knew the kid too well to trust he would stay in his room and wait for him if he asked.

“I’d rather have him next to me than eavesdropping on us from wherever the best place for that is.”

Instinctively, Dick and Jason’s gazes fixated on the same place. Hal couldn’t help but smile.

“Why did I say that ? Of course you already know everything about the good spying places.” 

Alfred entered the room and Hal placed himself between Tim and Damian, who were at opposite sides of the sofa. Jason sat on the armchair next to Damian and Dick sat on the armrest, his arm brushing against Jason’s. 

Alfred joined them with a tray of tea, putting it on the coffee table before going to sit in his usual armchair. 

Nobody touched either the tea or the heavenly smelling cookies accompanying it, which was an event unheard of in this household.

“What happened, Alfred ?” Hal asked softly after some time, every member of the family having shut down. 

The old man looked a bit like he was going to be sick. Didn’t they all look that way anyway ? That, and sleepy. Tim had a bad case of bed hair and pillow creases on his face, Damian was dozing on Hal’s shoulder and Hal wondered if leaning on Jason was the only thing that held Dick upright.

Jason looked more awake than the rest of them but also wore sweats Hal assumed he had slept in. Tim had put jeans on but Damian was still in his pajamas. A look at Dick reminded Hal he had seen him leaving Jason’s room this morning : he was undoubtedly wearing one of Jason’s t-shirts. 

“I received a call from Dr Thompkins. She was at the Watchtower and she wanted to talk to all of us. She should be here in a minute.” 

Tim’s sudden intake of breath was clearly audible. Damian was fidgeting next to Hal, looking at him with uncertainty. He was probably the only one in the room that hadn’t realized fully the implications of this.

Dr Thompkins wouldn’t just have asked all of them to be here for good news. And if she had just been at the Watchtower… It wasn’t just bad, it was really bad.

Tim had become very still next to Hal, who squeezed his knee. The teenager looked at Hal briefly - he had tears in his eyes. 

Damian must have felt something was very wrong by then because he had gotten closer and was almost onto Hal’s lap now. Hal put an arm around him and saw Jason take Dick’s hand in his and the two men exchange glances. 

They were more or less ready when the doctor entered the room. She looked like she hadn’t gotten much sleep either. Her face told it all.

“Sadly, I didn't ask you to reunite for good news.” she started saying after taking a chair next to Alfred. 

Hal was grateful for that, she could keep an eye on Bruce’s father figure while he took care of the boys at his sides and Jason and Dick comforted each other.

“Is Father dead ?” Damian’s voice raised.

It was more piercing than usual. Hal could read distress in it, and held his son a bit tighter. Dr Thompkins looked straight at the child, a sorry expression on her face. 

“I am sorry, Damian. Bruce fought as much as he could but sometimes… sometimes it’s not enough.” she said, but she didn’t choke on her words, which Hal appreciated.

She was a family friend and would need to mourn too, but if even the doctor had started to cry, Hal wasn’t sure he could have kept his composure as well. 

“Was it quick ?” 

That voice was stronger than Damian, rougher. Everyone turned to look at Jason. His joints were white and he was going to break the bones in Dick’s left hand if he didn’t loosen his grip on it. Tim looked confused at seeing the two of them holding hands. As far as Hal could tell, Damian was unbothered. Hal was afraid that it became his default mode for a while.

“Yes. Painless.” Dr Thompkins said.

Her tone was compassionate and Hal remembered that she had examined Jason’s dead body before. She must have had a rough estimate of how much he had been put through before dying. Hal too. He was quite certain that it was an awful lot. 

Jason seemed to relax a bit at her answer. Dick wasn’t even pretending he wasn’t leaning on him anymore, his face buried against his neck. His lips were moving - and Hal could see Tim watching closely, maybe trying to decipher his words - but it was too low for Hal to hear it and he wasn’t much of a lip-reader. Jason wrapped an arm around Dick’s shoulders.

Tim was now crying silently and didn’t protest when Hal brought him closer to him, doing the same with Damian at his other side - the kid fought his embrace though and Hal let him be, just keeping a hand on his shoulder. 

Hal had forbidden Alfred to make breakfast before Jason discreetly pointed out that it was more of a punishment than anything else, since it kept Alfred distracted. 

Dr Thompkins had chatted a bit with Hal and had left. Damian had fallen asleep after some time, proving that he mustn’t have slept much last night. Hal had carried him to his bed.

Jason had promised to talk to him later. 

“Being dead is okay. It’s the dying part that is difficult. When you know there is no longer hope.” he had said and Dick had looked very much like he was going to throw up.

“Leslie said he was unconscious. He didn’t have to go through this.” Dick snapped.

“But I had, and would it kill you and Bruce to acknowledge that ? Or are we all pretending I was just asleep all this time ?”

The whole room had gone silent and Jason paled when he realized what he had said unthinkingly.

“I just - I - . Damn it, Jay.” 

Dick was crying as he left the room without acknowledging its other occupants. Jason seemed to think about it but didn’t follow him.

“Can you make sure he gets a cup of Alfred’s herbal tea and keep an eye on Dick for me ?” he asked Hal. 

“You’re leaving ? Now ?”

Jason frowned at him. 

“I am not really leaving, just making some necessary social calls. There are some people that should be informed in person. Gordon, Babs, Kate… allies and friends. Dick won’t be functional enough to do it, and you and Alfred have your hands full with the other two. I’ll take care of this.”

“Jason. I am sorry. He loved you so much.” Hal felt the need to say.

“Yeah, me too. And I actually know that. It would have been nice if he could have swallowed his guilt and his pride for a minute and told me that.”

Hal had rubbed at his tired eyes before looking back at Jason, who either was used to much less sleep than the others or drank too much coffee to look so alert. 

“Bruce showed his love by acts, not by words. And you don’t have to do this. I can do it later if you prefer.”

Jason muttered something sounding like “He could have killed the bastard, then.”

“It’s fine. No patrols tonight, though. I am taking Dick out.” he said louder.

A regular person would have meant they were taking someone out for dinner. Hal was pretty sure Jason meant the two young men were going to chase each other through the city’s roofs to forget about the rest of the world for a bit. If Jason convinced him, because Dick seemed really upset when he had left the room.

“As long as you two are careful. We would have to look into this more later, but I’ll ask the League to take care of Gotham tonight. I wasn’t going to ask you to patrol, anyway. The Bat clan deserves the rest.” 

The League. Hal had still to inform them. That was going to be painful. 

Jason nodded, took his jacket and went out. Alfred and Tim went back with a full brunch. Hal couldn’t stomach much but coaxed Damian into eating a little. 

Alfred assured Hal he could take care of the two boys while Hal took care of “important matters”. Hal thanked him and fixed a plate for Dick before going up.

“Come in.” Dick said when Hal knocked. “But I am done fighting with you for today.”

“Not Jason. He went out to tell family friends.” Hal said, coming in.

Dick was leaning his elbows on the windowsill. Hal noticed a cigarette in his right hand. He didn’t know Dick was smoking but kept his mouth shut. That was not the time. 

He joined him at the window. The view on the gardens was amazing but none of them were really seeing it. 

“I should call Babs.” Dick was saying, eyes closed. 

“Jason mentioned her.” Hal nodded. 

He knew of Dick and Barbara’s relationship. Everyone in the Manor knew. They had been kind of a perfect couple but had stopped seeing each other a few months after Jason’s return from the dead. 

“It would have been easier if she had been my soulmate.”

Hal fixed a point on the horizon. Bruce should really have had a discussion or two about soulmates with his sons. And who was to blame for that, uh ? If Hal hadn’t been so uncomfortable about Bruce not being his soulmate, he may have talked about the subject more openly with the kids. He never would, now. 

“Yeah well, your soulmate is trying. He is sparing you difficult conversations and he asked me to check on you.” Hal offered in Jason’s defense.

Dick was too quick to judge his soulmate badly because he wasn’t perfect.

“I know. I am grateful for that, but he could have come to me himself.” Dick muttered.

Well, maybe Jason didn’t want to be compared to Dick’s ex in a defavorable way. It would have deterred more than one well-meaning soul. However Dick was hurting too much right now for Hal to voice this thought aloud.

“I think he didn’t want to upset you more.” Hal said in all honesty.

“He is doing it all the time. Sometimes he’s just that lovely and attentionate guy and sometimes he’s just such an asshole.”

Hal shrugged, noncommittal. 

“That’s human. And he cares about you. In retrospect, I can tell you it’s more than my soulmate ever did.”

That hadn’t been his mindset years ago. Since then, he had learned much about caring with Bruce at his side.

“I don’t think I would be up for patrolling tonight.” Dick said after a long pause.

“I know. I’ll ask some JL members to do it. By the way, Jason said he’d like to go out with you tonight, for some rooftop action.” 

“He told you w-what ?”

It took a few seconds to Hal to review what he said that had made Dick turned such a red shade. He smiled when he realized where Dick’s mind had gone. Surely Bruce had rules about not having sex on patrols, Hal thought. But with Bruce’s history, that would be quite hypocritical, though. 

“That wasn’t what I meant ! Is that all you can think about ? I think he was talking about showing you some views and maybe doing some grappling from one building to another with you tonight.”

“Really ? I’d love that.” Dick said, a small smile gradually fading on his face.

It would probably be the last time he’d be Nightwing. Soon enough he would have to be Batman in a permanent way. Jason’s offer was really thoughtful.

“Jason also said something about you having a cup of herbal tea.”

Dick nodded and crushed his cigarette. He had barely touched it. Not his, then. Jason’s ?

“Yeah. I am going to fix myself one. Sleeping would be great. Can you manage without me ? I can stay awake for a bit if you need me.”

Hal shook his head. They were going to need Dick in the aftermath, but right now he could rest. Batman’s legacy was a heavy one to wear for such a young man and Dick had just lost a father. Again. It couldn’t be easy. 

“It’s fine, go and try to sleep if you’re heading out for a date tonight.” 

Dick threw a pillow at him and Hal fled from the room, laughing quietly. He wouldn’t laugh much more that day.

Since Alfred had told him he could deal with the kids and no screams were heard, Hal went back to his bedroom to take a nap. He composed Oliver’s number when he woke up.

“Ollie ? Uh, it’s Hal. I just - do you have five minutes ? It’s important.”

Hal waited for a second, as his friend had asked him too. He heard whispers and remembered it was still early on the West Coast and that vigilantes usually slept in late.

“Can I put you on speaker ? Dinah wants to say hi too.” 

Oliver’s voice was a little odd and Hal supposed he suspected what Hal was going to say and didn’t want to be the one to announce it to Dinah. Hal understood the feeling perfectly.

But maybe he was extrapolating and Oliver’s voice was a little odd because Hal had woken him up. Hal crossed his legs, looking at the wall facing the bed.

“It’s over.” he said simply. 

He heard some shuffling that he attributed to Oliver and Dinah getting closer to each other, seeking comfort and trying to provide it at the same time. Hal and Bruce had been that kind of couple too. 

He should stop doing that, second guessing what other people were doing and thinking. Bruce would be so proud to have made him so attentive to environmental noise, breathing patterns and the like. Hal smiled for half a second before he glanced down at his chest.

His hand clenched on the cape he had found in the closet. It had been relegated there years ago. He hadn’t needed the cape when he had had Bruce. Now, alone in their too big bedroom, he was glad for having kept it despite Bruce’s accusations of sentimentalism - but the man hadn’t gotten rid of it either-. 

“Hal…” the voice on the phone whispered.

Oliver. Hal had forgotten about the call. What had he even said ? Did Dinah and Oliver understand or had he been too nebulous ? 

“Bruce’s dead.” he said, just in case, and the tears started running down his face.

He knew Bruce was dead, but saying it was making it even more real, and this morning had just been so tiring ! He hadn’t let himself cry yet. He shook through his sobs. 

“I am - we’re so sorry Hal. If you need anything… Help with the kids or something…” Oliver started saying but he stopped in the middle of his sentence.

Uncertainty. The very essence of romance. Of mourning too, it would seem. People didn’t know what to say to you. Hal had experimented it very young, with his Dad’s death. People were sorry, willing to help and… and nobody knew what, there were just ellipses suspended in the air. 

“Actually, we won’t patrol tonight, so if you could take care of this... “ Hal said after a few very long seconds punctuated by whispers at the other end of the line.

“Of course. I suppose you don’t want us to come over ?” Dinah asked.

“Er, thanks but no. We’ll manage. I’ll keep in touch. Bye.” Hal said, hanging up hastily.

It was too much, hearing the pity and compassionate words from his friends. Knowing they still had each other and he was alone, now. 

He knew he should call Clark, too. And Barry probably.

He hoped for someone else to do it but he was the one to take care of it in the end. It was as sad and heartbreaking as he thought it would be.

There was so much to do. They will have to release a public statement and do something about Wayne Enterprises. Hopefully, Lucius could take care of this without them for a bit.

How did Bruce even manage to do all this ? Hal wondered for a long time, looking at the ceiling.

Thankfully, he fell asleep after that, only waking up to Damian crawling up in the bed and cuddling up to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just saying, things are not always as bad as they seem.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter the "Graphic violence" tag was about.  
> And this is the last one for this story. Enjoy !

**Seven years ago**

“I can’t believe you followed us outside and thought it was okay to spy on us..” Hal said finally.

Bruce had joined their small group now, standing next to Oliver. Hal ached to touch him but kept his hands to himself cautiously.

“Actually, you are the ones who decided to have this conversation in an open place. One next to the bench I was stargazing on, I should add.”

He didn’t seem angry at Hal’s accusation, which was nice of him because Hal started to feel embarrassed by his assumption. He was often too quick to judge Bruce. 

“Oh.” 

Hal remembered Bruce telling him about his mother showing him the constellations in the sky when he couldn’t sleep when he was little. He hadn’t told Hal he had kept this habit, though. 

Ha looked at the couple between them and at Bruce again, hesitant. He had things to say, but not ones he was willing to share with Oliver and Dinah.

“Is it time to make ourselves scarce ?” the archer asked.

The tension had been hard not to notice. 

Bruce nodded appreciatively. Hal fought a blush before remembering that it was quite dark and they probably couldn’t see it. 

“Yes. Hal and I should talk.” 

The young couple said their goodbyes and after one last concerned glance towards Hal, Dinah dragged Oliver along inside Bruce’s home. 

However the two were vigilantes and Hal’s friends, he knew them well enough to know that the chances were pretty high that they’d try to keep an eye on them, maybe go out by another door and hide somewhere to be certain Bruce didn’t try to bury his corpse. Hal didn’t know if he should feel grateful or frustrated. 

“Couldn’t you tell us you were there in the first place ?” Hal asked.

He had crossed his arms on his chest. He felt quite defensive but it was his own fault for not having checked his conversation with his friends was as private as he had thought it was.

For all he knew, half the League could have hid in the bushes listening to them, since they hadn’t checked. 

“I wouldn’t have learned that much if I had. Speaking of things I found out about tonight, when were you going to tell me Mike was your soulmate, by the way ?”

Hal looked up at the stars. Bruce had been right, it was a good night to stargaze. A good night to fly, too. No clouds, no wind.

And if Bruce hadn’t been angry before, he was now. 

“Does it change anything ?” Hal asked.

Would Bruce have broken up with him before Hal did break up with him if he had known Hal was cheating on his soulmate instead of a regular boyfriend ? Hal doubted it, but you never knew. Most people would consider it far worse. Kind of like cheating on your pregnant partner. 

Luckily for Hal, Bruce had rarely been described as “most people”. He shook his head without a second thought. 

“Not really, but I would have been more understanding with you. I know how society could shame you into thinking your soulmate is good enough for you, that you’d never be whole without them.” 

Hal didn’t ask, it wasn’t really the time for that, but he would someday. He wondered if Bruce had suffered at the hands of his soulmate before, or if their separation had been a simple affair, a formality mutually agreed on. He doubted that somehow. 

Bruce seemed to be a tragedy magnet, and wasn’t it worrying that Hal felt so attracted to him ?

“Was your next phone call intended to be for Mike ?” Bruce asked when Hal stayed silent for too long.

There was no point in lying about that. Hal was tired of lying, anyway. Tonight was about honesty, it would seem. And maybe trust too, in some way. 

“Yes.” Hal said, closing his eyes for a bit. “I am done with him. What he’s doing to me is not right and it has to stop.”

Bruce stayed silent for a bit, probably musing on the words he was going to say, thinking about his next move. He tended to speak too fast when Hal was concerned. Hal was making him react rashly and tended to judge him too fast too, never giving him the benefit of the doubt. 

“It’s good to hear this from you. Can it wait ? The phone call, I mean ?” Bruce asked, closing the space they had left between them even after Dinah and Oliver’s departure. 

Hal let himself be kissed by Bruce for a few seconds. It was really nice but he pushed him away after some time.

“I promised him not to cheat on him again.” Hal said softly.

Bruce undid a button of Hal’s shirt and exposed his collaborne.

“And he promised not to ever hit you again.” he said, tracing the darkened skin there.

Hal didn’t ask how he knew. Maybe he had seen Hal massage this area or something. 

“He was -” Hal started saying.

Bruce stopped him with a finger on his lips. Hal resisted the urge to bite on it. 

“Hal, no more excuses. What he did to you was plain wrong.” he said, stroking the skin above Hal’s collarbone one more time before buttoning Hal’s shirt up, having noticed him shivering.

Hal hesitated to tell him it was not from the cold. 

“I know. It took me some time but… that recording was the last straw. You were just so kind and caring and Mike had never been anything but selfish and brutal, it felt so different and… so much less than what you and I were doing.”

Bruce nodded, letting their foreheads meet. 

“Hal. As much as I want to jump into this with you, stumbling from a relationship to another might not be the best option.” he said quietly.

Hal could feel his breath on his lips. It made him smile a bit. He stroked Bruce’s cheek lightly.

“I can see your point. You’ll wait ?” he asked.

“I’ll wait. My feelings are the same. Stronger, perhaps.”

Hal pulled away a little, smiling.

“What do you want to do with Mike ?” Bruce said finally, wiping the smile from Hal’s face efficiently. 

“Take legal action against him, maybe ? I don’t know yet. I am going to need time to think about it.” Hal said honestly.

He didn’t really want that kind of publicity but he wanted to prevent Mike from hurting anyone else. 

“I’ll testify.” Bruce promised. 

And make that a very public case ? Hal laughed, and his voice was full of fondness. 

“Remember that League meeting where you told Barry and Oliver all about how our names being associated was idiotic and dangerous ? Just because they went to a bar together ?”

Bruce shrugged. For Hal, he would break most of his own rules. It was a dangerous thought, but Bruce couldn’t help it. 

“I intend to have our names associated with much more than a trial in a few years time.” he said, and he meant it.

Hal didn’t feel the cold at all anymore. 

“You’re going to make me blush.” he said. 

Bruce shook his head in amusement before going back to his original thought process. It was impressive to see him never wavering from his original path. 

“Hal, you shouldn’t stay in your own flat. I suppose Mike know the address and -”

Hal put his hands on Bruce’s shoulders to calm him.

“He doesn’t. I keep my lantern here.”

And that used to be the place we met, stayed unsaid. Even after their break-up, it had been how Hal had seen it, a secret place to keep from Mike. 

“You can’t be sure about that. He could have followed you some day. Bring your lantern somewhere safer. The Watchtower, for all I care. The Batcave if necessary. And don’t stay there either.” 

Hal stopped him before promising anything.

“Bruce -”

The man didn’t let him talk and Hal felt frustrated but at least he knew Bruce would not hit him for talking back to him. 

“I want to do right by you, so you can’t really stay with me at the Manor, but I am sure Oliver would give you a place to stay, and Barry wouldn’t mind having you with him either if you ask. I can pay for a hotel room but I know you’re going to say no to that. You -”

Apparently Bruce couldn’t stop talking and thinking about Hal’s security. It wasn’t just something he had thought of on a whim, he had planned this. Hal felt his heart tighten a bit. Oh, Bruce...

“Hey. Calm down. I am safe right here.” Hal said softly and he just held Bruce against him, waiting for him to wrap his arms around him.

“You’re right, I need to spend some time on my own, but don’t expect me to wait for years before I come back to you.” Hal murmured into his ear.

His and Bruce’s timing had always been disastrous, but that was the worst it ever got.

Jason had died a week and a half later. A mugging gone wrong, the newspapers had dubbed it. Hal had waited for a few hours but in the end couldn’t let Bruce deal with his grief entirely on his own.

Hal hadn’t met Jason often but he had often talked with Bruce about his sons. Bruce had so many stories to tell, about the Robins but also about Dick and Jason, teenagers with a complicated relationship with their father figure and a Mary Sue’s past. 

His separation with Mike had been messy to the point neighbours had called the police but Mike had friends in the force so they hadn’t been of much help, asking Hal to leave. 

Hal was furious because Bruce had told Hal to not go back in there alone - and had suggested Oliver for a companion as he knew Hal would never have accepted his own presence for the task.

After that, Oliver and Dinah had invited him to their home naturally and it nearly felt as if he had always lived there. 

Of course, it was temporary. Hal didn’t plan to live with his best friend for the rest of his life and it was probably not into Dinah and Oliver’s long range plans either. 

He was already looking for a new place and Dinah had promised accompanying him for the visits - she was a terrific bargainer. 

He spent some time in space on a few diplomatic but unimportant missions and came back but wasn’t much needed at the Watchtower - to the point he was starting to wonder if it was Bruce’s doing. 

Bruce and him had talked on the phone. A lot, these last weeks. Sometimes, it was just inane chatter but they just enjoyed listening to each other’s voices. 

Maybe Bruce needed that, right now, just someone who would listen or talk according to what he needed.

Hal had gone to the manor, hesitant. The death of a child affected so many people. The kid probably hadn’t even met his soulmate yet (even if Hal had learnt it wasn’t necessarily the tragedy people thought it was). 

However, Hal had felt close to the kid on some level with Bruce’s fond but annoyed tales about pencilled annotations of first editions (“who wrote this shit ?”, “ugh no I can’t ship that”, “just get over it”, “she deserved so much better”) and faked signatures on school reports. 

Knowing he would never have the choice to do things again, to get a driving license, to yell at Bruce and slam doors (apparently it was a habit), to make friends and to become an adult, that was terrible. It had been taken from him, all of it. 

Thinking about Jason, a kid, being tortured to death made him sick. He couldn’t imagine what it was doing to Bruce since the kid had been his son.

Bruce’s butler had opened the door for him, but it was obvious he was deeply affected by the boy’s death and he accepted Hal’s words of sympathy but announced to him that Bruce was unwell. Hal had nodded.

“I know he must have asked you to tell everyone that he would not receive them. But could you give him this ?” Hal had asked, giving Alfred a package.

He had no doubt it would be transmitted swiftly. However, he hadn’t expected Bruce to call him a few hours later. He was wondering what to say as he took the call, in the guestroom in Oliver and Dinah’s home that was his current bedroom. 

It was late. Hal had waited for Bruce to call, just in case, but he was starting to consider going to sleep. His back was against the headboard and he was hugging a pillow for comfort.

“You had kept my cape.” Bruce said without preamble.

His voice was too dry for Hal’s taste but it was Bruce’s voice and that in itself meant the world. His treacherous heart started beating a bit faster. 

“As you knew. I am sure you keep track of them. You’ve given one to all your lovers or am I special ?” Hal said. 

He knew Bruce didn’t go around distributing his capes but he was trying his best to make Bruce think of something else than his son’s corpse.

“Your scent is on it.” Bruce whispered.

Hal wondered if he had the cape pressed against him as Hal had many times since he had woken up alone in the ship with it wrapped around his body to warm him.

“That was the goal. You don’t know how much comfort this cape had brought me.” Hal said quietly.

He had tried to keep the conversation light but there was no ignoring that Bruce’s son was dead. 

“Hal…” Bruce said too softly.

Hal could tell he was crying. He squeezed his eyes shut.

“I can be in Gotham in, uh, maybe an hour ? If you want me to. I don’t have the words for this, Bruce, but I am with you. I am with you.” Hal was saying, repeating the words again and again in his head, hoping to communicate them to Bruce.

“Can you - make it fast, okay ?”

Hal nodded, realized Bruce couldn’t see him and forced the words out of his throat as he grabbed some clothes.

“Sure. I’ll be there soon. Hold on, I am on my way. I love you.” Hal said before hanging up.

“Going out !” he shouted so his friends wouldn’t worry as he got out of his room and climbed down the staircase. 

It was before remembering it was the middle of the night and they probably thought he was on drugs or something.

The trip to Gotham was uneventful. This time, Pennyworth greeted him with an appreciative tiny smile. Bruce was waiting for him in a room, but led him to his bedroom quickly. 

They were kissing in the stairs, which meant the trip took them way longer than necessary. They had managed to reach the bed and Hal was peeling off his shirt when things went wrong. Bruce had become very still, seeing the healing bruises (a parting gift from his soulmate) on his torso. 

Hal had been about to ask what was wrong and Bruce could only point and shake, sobbing, half-naked himself. Hal put his shirt back on and wrapped Bruce into his arms, cradling him. 

In a few broken sentences, Bruce had told him about how he had to change the boy into non-vigilante attire, and about all the bruises and broken bones. Hal held him tighter, kissing his forehead. 

About the visible soulmark covering his ribs too. You couldn’t see someone else’s soulmark if they weren’t your soulmate. Or if one of the soulmates wearing it on their skin wasn’t alive anymore. 

Somewhere, the mark on Jason’s soulmate’s skin had turned red and become visible to everyone’s eyes.

They talked most of the night - Hal highly doubted Bruce had ever had a good sleeping schedule but he was certain he wouldn’t sleep that night. 

He was proven wrong when Bruce finally fell asleep in his arms in the early hours of the morning. He started dozing off too but it didn’t last for long. Soon enough Bruce was trashing and Hal had to restrain him. Restraining Bruce was not something one did easily. He was whimpering his son’s name and Hal wondered how much heartbreak they could both bear. 

He knew he couldn’t contain Bruce for much longer but thankfully Bruce woke up. Screaming.

"Jason, wake up !" he said, shaking Hal’s body, before taking in his environment. 

He curled up on himself a bit, looking confused. Hal went closer, taking his hands into his.

"It's Hal, Bruce. Jason is not here." he said softly.

The realization seemed to hit Bruce like a train. He cried against Hal’s shoulder.

"He's dead." he said, his voice quivering. 

Hal kissed his head and held him tight, trying to find the right words and finding nothing. There were no right words for this situation. 

"Y-yes, he is. Shhhh. I am here."

For a long time, Bruce couldn’t calm down, shaking in Hal’s arms as Hal said little nothings. 

“How’s Dick ?” he asked when Bruce stopped shaking, fearing the answer. 

Jason had only been a kid, and Dick hadn’t been much older. He already had to deal with grief in his short life and that was only adding more pain to this. 

“He… he doesn’t know.” Bruce mumbled against him.

“Bruce ! Is he with the Titans ? You have to tell him !” Hal exclaimed. 

Soon enough there will be the funeral, and surely Dick wouldn’t want to miss it ? Or maybe he would want to ? Anyway, he should be given the choice. Not that Hal, childless himself, felt very at ease to criticize Bruce’s parenting skills, especially right then after he had lost one of his sons. 

“I will. He’s coming back home soon. I don’t know if I can do this.” Bruce whispered.

“This ?” Hal asked, petting Bruce’s hair quietly.

“Keep being a father figure to Dick. I failed with Jason and -”

“Bruce, you didn’t fail Jason. He was murdered, and not by you. He shouldn’t be dead but that’s not on you.”

“Isn’t it ? If he hadn’t been a Robin -” Bruce said, choking on his sobs and not finishing his sentence.

Hal sighed. 

“Jason wanted to be a Robin. You know he needed it. He wouldn’t have grown old in the streets by the way, if you ever thought he would have been better off without you.”

The distress in Bruce’s voice was heart-wrecking. Hal was feeling sick himself. 

“He didn’t grow old with me either.” 

Hal winced at the sincerity of the words. They weren’t wrong, but Jason had been better off with Bruce than he would have been with many.

“You gave him a family.” Hal argued.

Bruce covered his own eyes with his hands. 

“I let him down.” 

“Parents do that all the time, it usually didn’t have such horrible results. Bruce, you loved him, you love him still and that’s all that matters, really.” Hal said.

He didn’t know shit about raising children, but loving them looked like the first necessary step. 

“If anything happened to me and I couldn’t be there for Dick… would you ? Would you take care of my son ?” Bruce asked after some time.

Hal looked straight in Bruce’s piercing eyes and promised it.

“Like if he was my own.” he said.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Nowadays**

“Wake up, Jane.” 

Dick groaned and grabbed a pillow to protect his face from the aggressive sunrays Jason had decided to welcome in the room. 

“Can you stop calling me by your hookups’ names ? That’s basic decency.” he mumbled into his pillow and Jason had no doubt he looked murderous.

Which would be more impressive if he was not holding a pillow against his face and wearing any clothes. 

“You’re the only person I have been seeing for the last six months.”

It was enough for Dick to get rid of his pillow to look at Jason who was sitting up at the end of the bed, his eyes lingering on Dick’s form. 

“Yeah ? I know about your sex drive and we hadn’t seen each other enough for you to be satisfied.” Dick said, his eyes narrowing as he sat, careful to keep some distance with Jason.

The younger man must have known what he was doing because he stood and went closer to him. Dick looked at him suspiciously and Jason licked his neck before nibbling at it. Dick yelped in surprise.

“It’s a wonder what you can do with your hand and a bit of imagination. Considering your own sex drive, I assumed you knew that.” Jason murmured in his ear. 

Dick pushed him away before he could nibble his ear. His heart was already beating too fast as it was.

“Gross.” he said, flushing.

Jason’s smirk told him he knew it was turning Dick on. 

“You weren’t saying that last night.” he said maliciously and Dick elbowed him. 

Last night had been great. They had watched the sunset together before jumping from a building to another together in a sort of curious race. It had lasted for hours. 

“Catch me.” Dick had said at some point.

Jason had smirked and chased after him. It had been very enjoyable until they had quite the scare. Dick would have fallen down from a twenty stories building if Jason hadn’t been right on his tracks.

“Got you.” he had said, out of breath, as he caught Dick and set him back onto his two feet. 

They had gone home after that, the adrenaline receding. They had kissed in the Cave as they changed, laughing a bit nervously. Dick had been closer to dying than either of them was comfortable with.

But apart from this, it had been a beautiful night. One Dick hadn’t known he needed, and one he was thankful for. So he had taken Jason’s hand and they had started stripping each other in the corridor - Dick was glad they hadn’t met Alfred or Hal, that would have been peak embarrassment - and finished doing it in Jason’s room.

They had had sex together before. Hell, they had had sex the night before. But that night they were perfectly in tune with each other’s needs. They were rough at times, and sweeter at others and they just worked so well together. 

Was it what Hal had meant when he had told him earlier that to love someone, you had to accept who they were fully ? Because Dick had, that night. He had embraced all of Jason, the good, the bad and what was in between. And he suspected Jason had done the same. They had stopped hiding their feelings, just went with it. And it had been great. 

They even had gotten some sleep after, which wasn’t a luxury. Well, for Jason it seemed to be, but Jason had never slept much after his death. 

“Shut up. So, who’s the Jane you were telling me about ?”

Jason cocked his head, looking at him. He looked fabulous, even dressed. 

“You. Well, Jane Bennet, but the role fits you, golden boy. The perfect child. The family’s good girl and everyone’s favorite. Pretty and not discussing orders much. Loyal to a fault. Not venturing out of the path.” 

“Fuck you. If I am Jane, you’re Lydia.”

Jason spluttered. He hadn’t thought Dick, so adamant that they weren’t brothers, would compare him to another Bennet girl and certainly not this one !

“I am not !” he protested vehemently. 

“The hot-headed one her family thinks is lost, who comes back and fucks up big and is welcomed with open arms nonetheless ? Please.” Dick snortled. “I can admit to being Jane if you recognize that you’re a textbook Lydia.”

Jason rolled his eyes at him. 

“If this is about my uniform kink, you really don’t know how good you look in your suit. And out of it.” Jason said with a pointed stare before winking at him.

Dick, who was not wearing clothes under the sheet wrapped loosely around his hips, laughed.

“Hey, Do you think that makes Bruce Mrs Bennet ?” he said suddenly, his eyes widening in shock.

This time, the two of them laughed, to the point of crying. None of them corrected Dick’s use of the present tense, though. 

“We should really take Hal on his therapy offer.” Jason observed. 

Dick could tell it was just a joke, but maybe there was something more into this. 

“Jay ? Maybe we should try it. For real.” he suggested.

Jason looked at Dick thoughtfully. 

“Yeah. It might be a good thing.” he said, nodding.

It was going to take years and years to unravel all their trauma. Either Dick had followed the same track of thoughts or Jason had said this aloud, because his next words matched Jason’s thoughts perfectly.

“We’re so fucked up.” he had said. 

Jason had shrugged. 

“Looks like we were meant to be soulmates.”

They had smiled at each other. Dick had opened his mouth to say something. His eyes were softer than usual and he was looking straight at Jason. Dick was going to grab his hand, he could tell.

“Jay, I -”

Jason had kissed him to preventing him for speaking. He knew what Dick was going to say, anyway.

“Later. It’s spar time. You go wake Drake, I’ll look for the demon child.” 

Training did them all good, it was something familiar and they needed to keep on with it anyway. They would be back on patrols soon enough. They were starting to miss it and it would provide a nice distraction.

Except for Dick probably. He would miss being Nightwing and Jason didn’t think he was ready to be Batman permanently. Not that he was going to tell him that, his soulmate had enough insecurities as it was. 

Jason had not found Damian in his room - where he seemed to have slept at some point - or in the training room. He had sprinted to the master bedroom’s door. to warn Hal He had opened it widely to be greeted with a heartbreaking sight.

Damian was curled up against his father, crying, put he didn’t notice Jason at first. Hal was still asleep though, holding a piece of fabric that looked suspiciously like one of Batman’s capes tight in his fist and having an arm loosely wrapped around his kid’s shoulders.

Jason closed his eyes for a second, pushing the grief away. Truth was, he missed Bruce and their petty fights. He missed Bruce’s messed up attempts of showing that he cared and his interference with Jason’s cases - and weren’t the two the same thing, really ? 

Dick was right, they were seriously fucked up.

Jason opened his eyes again. Damian was looking up at him through his tears but Hal hadn’t woken up. He gestured for the kid to come out of the room and closed the door gently behind them. 

“Look, you’re not off the hook and we’re going to train later, but for now we’re just going to play videogames in your room and eat ice cream. Um. You can talk about Bruce if you like. Deal ? You go ahead, I am bringing back the ice cream.”

Damian wiped his tears and nodded before taking the direction of his room. Jason joined him not long after with bowls full of vanilla and chocolate ice cream. He texted Dick quickly to tell him to not wait for them and that he would explain later. 

After several hours spent playing some game or another, Jason had helped with Damian’s literature homework and promised his help for one of the kid’s new “science projects” which were bound to make the house explode if the wild child was left unsupervised. Maybe Tim could help with this one.

It hit Jason that they were really being a family and that it was probably all Bruce had ever wanted and fuck this timing. He had to pretend he needed to use the bathroom so he could have some alone time to take a breath.

Since the news of Bruce’s death, his panic attacks had come back. Only Dick knew - he had to help him through them once or twice when they were in Jason’s room - and had been sworn to secrecy.

In the afternoon, they trained for three hours. Hal helped in the last one, adjusting positions and giving technical and strategic advice. The man had checked on them in the morning but Jason had told him he would stay with Damian and that Hal could have some work done. 

Hal had gone to the Watchtower but had come back quickly with the files he had been looking for. There had been too many people to face here, who offered condolences and asked how it had happened, and it had been too much too soon. 

He had left as quickly as he could and had worked on the files from the Manor. He had talked briefly with Jason but had looked quite occupied with all sorts of forms to fill.

At nightfall, Jason had left a note in the kitchen and had gone out to be Red Hood again. Dick was probably going to be mad at this one but hopefully Jason would be back at the Manor early enough to make up for it. 

He had needed to check on things and remind some people that he was still watching them. After a few more inspections, he retreated to one of his safehouses. There was some stuff here he would need at the Manor if he was going to stay longer. 

Which he probably would, as long as Dick stayed there too. Would he either come back to Bludhaven ? With Bruce’s role to ease into, probably not. He was probably going to miss it. That city had been a safe haven for Dick, a big part of his independence. To be honest, Jason felt bad for him. He was glad he wasn’t the one to have to take over Batman’s role and give up his own investigations. 

For twenty minutes, as Jason took possession of his safehouse again, checking the different exits and throwing some weapons in a bag, nothing had happened. But then the main door had opened suddenly and a giant bat had rolled onto the floor, dodging Jason’s fire. Jason closed his eyes to calm his heart and closed the secondary door said bat had gone through a bit more forcefully than necessary. 

“You almost gave me a heart attack, idiot. For a second I thought -” he said before turning around.

But the man was standing on his feet and that wasn’t Dick. He wore the Batman suit but he didn’t have Dick’s feline grace. It took Jason five seconds to be certain, during which he had drawn a blade from his belt and threatened the man with it without getting an answer. 

His knees buckled under him. He collapsed on the floor, laughing. That wasn’t possible, and yet. It was Bruce standing there and Jason didn’t need him to take the cowl off to know that. 

“Wait, you too ? Is there a Bat curse and we’re all allowed nine lives or something ?” 

Bruce sighed and it was a more wonderful sound than Jason used to think it was. He was really losing it, it would seem. 

“I wasn’t dead, Jason.” Bruce said.

Jason bristled at that. Names when they were working ? What was next ? 

“Next time start with sorry. And I am not doing your bidding without an explanation. Because that’s why you sought me out, right ? Does anyone else know or was I the only one with morals loose enough to not tell your grieving family that you’re not dead ?”

Bruce visibly flinched at that, which told Jason he knew what he had done was very wrong and wasn’t proud of it. However he would never admit to that aloud. 

“Don’t be so dramatic.” he said. 

Jason glared at him through his lenses, which were still up. 

“It’s a miracle you didn’t kill Alfred with this one. My replacement is only sleeping because of pills. I think Dick took away his cigarette packet, by the way. I couldn’t find Damian this morning and went to Hal’s bedroom, to find him clutching Hal’s shirt like a lifeline in his sleep, crying. Hal is using one of your capes as a plushie, by the way.”

Bruce was about to say something but Jason stopped him.

“And your golden child slipped last night. Have you ever seen Dick slip ? Because I certainly haven’t before. That was terrifying. Oh, he’s alright, I was there. Thanks for the additional trauma by the way, I was starting to sleep better.” 

For a moment, they just looked at each other defiantly. 

“I would have spared you all if I had a choice.” Bruce finally said, looking at the floor..

He looked tired and Jason didn’t doubt that if he wasn’t dead, it had only been a close call. 

“Strangely, faking your death is not what most people consider as a reasonable step of action. So, Thompkins knows logically, me and who else ?”

Bruce sighed, crossing his arms. 

“Clark. And Barbara.”

Jason wasn’t sure he was going to laugh or cry. Dick was going to hate Bruce, and honestly it was well deserved. His ex, seriously ? It must have been for practical reasons - Jason had never met anyone as skilled as Oracle with a keyboard - but still. 

“Wow. You know Hal and Dick cried while respectively calling one and the other ?” 

Jason had the misfortune to witness both. Dick because he had done it in Jason’s room that he didn’t seem able to quit nowadays and Hal because Jason had wanted to pick up a book to relax and who the hell had this kind of conversation in the library ?

“I needed their help. You’re staying at the Manor.” Bruce said, and it wasn’t a question.

Jason would have to, in order to know that much about what was happening to the family. He didn’t look at Bruce. 

“Uh, yes ? I thought it was where my home was supposed to be.”

Bruce had yelled that at him once in the hopes he would come back, but Jason had refused to do so. 

“I wasn’t sure you knew that.”

Jason shrugged. He didn’t know why he had stayed at first.

“Hal said he needed help and that kind of bullshit. I guess he wanted to keep an eye on us. Maybe it’s for press pictures, since we’re such a united family. Oh wait, I am legally dead, can’t do that, whoopsie.”

Bruce didn’t flinch, which meant he was getting used to Jason’s jokes about his own death. A shame, because Jason would have taken the opportunity to fight if Bruce had taken the bait.

In fact, Hal’s offer had given Jason an excuse to keep an eye on the others, which he was grateful for but wouldn’t thank anyone for. They may start thinking Jason liked them. 

“But you stayed. And now you’re out and about again.”

“Yeah, I have left some stuff here that I need to do my job. How long are you planning to stay dead ?”

Bruce didn’t comment on Jason’s “job”. That would only lead to them arguing, and they had things to do. 

“I am just tidying up loose ends, so soon, if you help.” he said. 

“You’re so helping me to fix my relationship with Dick when he finds out. What do you need ?”

They had been working for some time and the night was well advanced when two figures had bursted in.

“That’s no longer a safehouse, that’s a fucking passageway.” Jason sighed, aiming at the door before putting his guns back in their holsters.

Dick and Hal, in vigilante clothing, had just entered the room. 

“Family reunion.” Jason muttered grimly.

He gritted his teeth, the encounter wasn’t going to be pleasant. Hal already had to lean against the wall and Jason felt compelled to bring him a chair. Hal’s voice was very tight when he thanked him. 

“Who knew ?” Hal asked through gritted teeth.

Jason looked at Bruce, who stayed silent but nodded. 

“Barbara, apparently. For tech support, I guess. Plus Leslie for obvious reasons and Clark, for less obvious reasons.” Jason answered

“Leslie was taking the longest time to let me see your corpse.” Hal said.

Bruce wasn’t looking at him. Dick was walking forward to where he was standing. 

“The fuck, B ? My ex-girlfriend wasn’t enough, you had to bring my soulmate into this too ?” he started saying angrily.

Jason knew for a fact that it was easier to be angry than to be sad. 

“Your -” Bruce started saying, looking from one to another before Jason cut him off.

He was glaring at Dick. He had waited and Dick should have to, it was a joint decision to make. 

“I hadn’t told him yet. He is going to need some time to recover.” he added as an afterthought. 

Bruce’s chin looked a bit whiter than usual. Jason was starting to wonder if he was going to shake with rage. 

“Yeah, the kid that I had to mourn alone when I was seventeen was my soulmate.” Dick said harshly, his arms crossed on his chest.

Jason huffed. 

“The man that is alive and speaking right now is your soulmate too.” he said, waving.

“Don’t I know that.” Dick muttered, and it was starting to be a bit much.

Bruce really did ruin everything. Jason would have told him that much but apparently, Bruce was having a secret silent conversation with Hal, and the Green Lantern looked furious. 

So he turned to Dick. He was in his Batman suit and it was a bit disturbing, having two Batmen here. 

“Sorry to disappoint, but what do you want from me exactly, Dick ? Because I can’t go back to who I was. I’d love to, but I can’t. Things happened to me I had no control on, and that kind of stuff changes people. I just can’t be your idealized version of me with limited emotional damage and if you think I am not worth it because of it, then why on Earth did you pressure me into a relationship ?” Jason exploded. 

“I wanted you. Still do. Not just because you’re a good fuck, stop looking at me like this. I want the good, and the less good, and even the bad and it’s really scary.” Dick said, laughing a bit.

The nerves again, probably. Wonderful.

“You -” Bruce started.

Hal had been able to stand again and had gone closer to his boyfriend but not enough for them to touch each other. Hal was protecting himself but his mission was also to protect the kids.

“Bruce, no.” he had cut him off, putting a hand on his wrist before he could go further. 

He wished fabric wasn’t keeping their skins apart. He yearned to touch, to feel Bruce, to assure himself this was real and not a cruel dream. 

“You can be so stupid sometimes.” was the only answer Jason could think about. 

Dick was now in his space but it wasn’t as uncomfortable as it seemed. 

“Thanks. Did you know he wasn’t dead last night ? Yesterday ?” he said, his voice low.

Did Jason know when Dick had put his heart on the line ? Did he know when he had woken Dick from a bad dream and held him until he fell back asleep ? Did he know as they looked into each other’s eyes and -

“Everything that happened last night was real. I did mean every single word I had said. And I only found out when Bats stormed into my safehouse a few hours ago very much like you and Hal did. By the way, I feel we should have a word about this. Let’s talk about trust. Where’s the fucking tracker ?” he asked, seething.

He was certain he hadn’t shown this safehouse to Dick and since Jason had promised he would be home early on a post-it, Dick had seen fit to alert Hal and go find him. Jason wanted to bang his head against the wall. 

“Excuse me to be worried. Check your jacket. You were going to tell me about B ? Yeah, let’s not talk about trust here. By the way, what the hell is happening here ?” Dick said louder, for the actual people in the back of the room. 

Hal and Bruce had started using words instead of glares and Hal’s voice was booming. He looked almost feral in his makeshift vigilante clothing. 

“You do realise our pre-teen son with personal space issues hugged me to death to fall asleep ? That I am controlling how many sleeping pills Tim is taking a day ? That Alfred is cooking for a small army while no one eats ? And I am not talking about Dick coming into my room in the middle of the night so we can make up and talk about Jason because he can’t sleep. Or the latter spending way too much time in front of his grave to be healthy.” 

Jason was impressed Hal had found out. He must really be caring about them. Which was less impressive, because that had been a given. 

“You were doing what ?” Dick said, his jaw dropping.

Jason’s relationship with his own death wasn’t really healthy, but it wasn’t like there were many models he could emulate here. 

“It’s a good place to yell at the dead. Alfred told you ?” he asked to Hal, wondering where he got those pieces of information.

“He was starting to worry. Bruce, do you realize how much heartbreak you caused us ?” 

Hal’s voice was gentle and he was holding Bruce’s hand but there was so much pain in his voice.

“That was never my intention.” he said, looking down at the floor. 

Hal just went closer, shaking his head in frustration. No doubt Bruce thought his actions were valid. Hal just couldn’t resist, he kissed him. Bruce was so stunned he didn’t answer at first.

A few seconds later, Jason had to clear his throat to remind them they weren’t alone. Hal spoke again.

“No shit. I think that’s enough for now, I am getting tired. It doesn’t mean I am done with it, though, and you know it. I am so glad you’re not dead. So, we’re going to discuss what justify to fake your death and conclude by absolutely fucking nothing later too, but knowing you, you thought you had a very reasonable reason. Go on, what can we do to help ?” 

“You just let him go away with it ?” Dick said with incredulity. 

Jason wrapped an arm around his shoulders. It could be mistaken for an attempt to comfort Dick, but it was really for preventing him to punch Bruce in the face. Which the bastard kind of deserved, but that wouldn’t help things along in the end.

“I just really want to go home and tell your brothers and Alfred quickly.” Hal said. “What were you protecting us from, Bruce ?”

“You remember what happened seven years ago ?” Bruce asked, and once again he was focused on Hal. 

Hal laughed, and the sound made them all relax a bit. 

“Hum hum. You’re going to have to be more specific, I can recall many things that happened seven years ago.”

Meeting Mike. The hospital. The break-up. Fighting aliens. Almost dying in a ship. Sleeping with Bruce for the first time. The abuse. Dating Mike again. Distancing from Bruce. Looking for the alien wizard who had tried to kill them. Having an affair with Bruce. That diplomatic mission. Breaking up. Stop looking for the alien wizard. Flying. Preventive measures. Going to that party. Bruce learning Mike was his soulmate. Bruce leaving suddenly. Listening to that damn recording. Feeling loved. Explaining things to his friends. Breaking up with Mike. Jason dying. Bruce and him reuniting. Talking about a potential trial. 

Yes, many things. Hal was looking at Bruce expectantly. 

“It’s about that Night.” 

Some of the nights they had spent together deserved a big N. Only one could match the intensity in Bruce’s tone and the very light touch of remaining fear, though. Hal knew which one.The first one. He looked at Bruce for confirmation. 

“A few weeks ago, Zatanna crossed paths with someone interesting. They had the right signature.” Bruce said.

“The one the wizard who sabotaged our ship years ago had ?” Hal asked, suddenly alert. 

Bruce nodded. 

“Yes. We - Clark and I, I mean - interrogated her. I should have told you but you were off planet. My apologies, you were right. Her intentions hadn’t been malicious. She had been told it was just a prank, and didn’t know anything about human biology, much less that they needed oxygen to live.” 

Hal looked quite relieved at that, but if Bruce felt they had been unsafe, there was probably more to this story.

“Yeah, better start apologizing now because you’re so going to keep doing that when we’re back home.” Hal muttered. 

He hadn’t released Bruce’s hand yet. Dick and Jason continued to observe them, remaining silent. Hal wondered if it was because they were used to Bruce giving them information about a mission.

“That could be good news, but we also learnt that she did it on someone else’s behalf.”

“Let me guess, someone who was really trying to kill us ?” Hal sighed.

This never got old, apparently. Well, with the lives they led, that wasn’t that surprising. They all had angered quite a few people, some with really scary abilities. 

“Yes. Does the name Arthur Milke ring any bell ?”

Hal frowned, thinking for a few seconds.

“I don’t think so.” he said finally, coming up with nothing. 

“I didn’t think it would. He used to be a superhero but changed sides. I may have provoked him not very long before our accident.”

Hal chuckled. Bruce thought he had provoked him ? Knowing the bat, he must have left the man with no dignity to cling to.

“So we don’t nearly die because of me.” Hal said.

It had been a joke, but Bruce’s jaw went tight. 

“No, that one's on me. But may I remember you of Faaresia 4 ?”

Hal shook his head vehemently. That had been a total disaster and a close call too because Hal had made one damn mistake. 

“No, thank you. Is that Milke guy trying to kill you again ? Why did he stop ?”

Bruce looked at Jason and Dick, leaning against each other a few steps away. Soulmates. He hadn’t seen this new development coming, but he was certain Hal was going to make him a powerpoint on all the reasons why he should have.

He felt Hal’s hand squeeze his wrist and answered him. 

“At first, he didn’t. He attacked me in Gotham a few weeks after our return, but I thought it was unrelated to our case because I didn’t know he had ties with aliens. Turns out his grandmother was one. The witch I talked to is the equivalent of her goddaughter.” 

“And you didn’t tell me he tried to kill you ?”

Well, they had been too busy giving each other the cold shoulder for Bruce to share what was happening in Gotham with Hal at that time. 

“Not to brag, but many people are trying to kill me on a regular basis. Hal, I have a question and you’re not going to like it at all.” 

“Try me.” Hal said, bracing himself.

He wasn’t ready for what Bruce threw at him, though. Well, he had been warned. It was a lucky thing Bruce had directed them towards Hal’s discarded chair. Well, probably not a lucky one, now that I thought of it. 

“Have you talked to Mike recently ?” Bruce had said. 

The slight tremor in Hal’s body only stopped when Bruce put a comforting, grounding hand on the nape of his neck. 

“Why do I get the feeling that you’re not talking about Carol’s cousin Mike or Mike-the-middle-school-terror ?” Hal whispered.

“I wish I was.” Bruce said.

“We haven’t talked since the end of the trial. We both know he has been released, but he didn’t try to contact me. How is he a part of this ?” 

Hal didn’t understand. He couldn’t connect the dots between all the elements Bruce had presented him with. Bruce’s hand closed on Hal.

“What he is to you, Arthur is to me.” he said, low enough that the boys couldn’t hear him.

In vain, since all discretion went out the window the second Hal opened his mouth.

“Milkes is your soulmate ?” he exclaimed, taken by surprise by Bruce’s words.

They had talked about his soulmate before, but he had never volunteered a name and Hal hadn’t asked. He knew Bruce probably kept tabs on him anyway.

Bruce took a worried glance in his sons’ direction.

“I told them that we weren’t soulmates.” Hal said quietly. “Well, I think we need to have a conversation with them and the younger ones about this to be honest. So, can you explain what happened ? Simple words will do, it’s getting late.” he said, louder.

It felt like they could stop whispering at this point. 

“Long story short, I think our soulmates worked together to destroy us.” Bruce said.

“You what ?”

Hal made a good imitation of a fish, Bruce noted in the back of his mind. Could always be used as blackmail later. 

“Too concise ?” Bruce asked, smirking, and Hal elbowed him.

“Asshole.” 

“Arthur had been in jail for six years and escaped from prison recently. He was sent there because of an anonymous tip about a burglary. The owner of the house had been killed and Arthur and his partner got caught. He was sentenced to jail. I told you before that my soulmate knew both my identities, and I knew his.”

Bruce paused for a second. Hal thought about asking about the past tense, but waited instead. 

“I think he found out about you and I when he went out of jail. Or he had planned this for a long time, but his plans seemed ill-conceived, too hasty. Born from rage. A real shame, because Arthur had an interesting mind.” 

He looked at Hal, thinking that it was their happiness that had put them at risk. 

“He was partly responsible for the last alien invasion. His grandmother is powerful on her planet. Arthur specified I was to be a target. Even if I had died, there was nothing you could have done, Hal. Thank you for Tim. You saved his life. He was the right choice to make and I would never not be grateful for what you have done.”

There was a surprised sound from where the boys stood but they kept their eyes on each other. Their lenses were down so they could look more freely at each other.

“I love you so much but I couldn’t let anything happen to the kids.” Hal said.

He was blushing. Bruce stroked his cheek softly and bent to kiss him, only to be stopped by his second eldest.

“This is very touching, but could Bruce get to the point ?” Jason was saying.

Bruce kissed Hal quickly and turned to glare at his second eldest who defiantly removed his mask before grabbing Dick’s unsuspecting face and shoving his tongue in his mouth. Bruce closed his eyes but heard his lover laugh and Dick’s curse.

He decided to just ignore all of them and kept talking about their case.

“Arthur went to see Mike - that’s Hal soulmate -, there is video footage of them together in the parking lot of a coffee shop. I think he saw reports of the trial and found someone else who probably hated me too to talk to.”

“Why didn’t they invite me.” he heard Jason’s mutter and Dick’s indignant reply.

Hal looked worried suddenly. 

“Do you think your soulmate knew about me being a Green Lantern ?”

“No. We’re careful in the field and I don’t think Arthur knows who you really are. For him, you’re just Hal Jordan, an overworked pilot and my lover, that could be used against me.”

“Remind me to change my resume into “overworked pilot and Bruce Wayne’s lover” if I ever want to change jobs.” Hal muttered.

Bruce smiled. Hal was so much more than that, and he knew it. 

“Anyway, I don’t think Arthur shared my identity with Mike. He must have seen him as a tool to an end, asked for information about you to get to me. I was looking into this with Clark when Tim and Jason found the aliens. By the way, may I ask how you ended up there ?” he said, turning towards Jason. 

“An anonymous tip. Addressed to you, but Tim was the one to take the call and it seemed to have ties with our current joint investigation so he called me and we went.”

Bruce nodded. Jason realized he hadn’t even called Tim his replacement this time but nobody else seemed to have noticed, except Dick maybe, because he was looking at him oddly. Hal had crossed his arms on his chest. 

“We’re so talking about the fact that you’d rather confide in your best friend than into me when it’s about our personal security.” he said, but his tone was light, not angry.

Which didn’t mean they wouldn’t talk about this again, but not here. 

“You don’t have laser beams.” Bruce answered cheekily. 

Hal raised an eyebrow.

“I have many other assets.”

“Oh my God, are those lines supposed to work ?” Jason said, hiding his face into his hands.

“Can we finish this or are we not getting any sleep tonight ?” Dick asked, yawning. 

“I was saying, I think Arthur was the one to lead you there.”

All of them stopped for a few seconds, remembering the attack. 

“Did you nearly die or was it just for show ?” Dick finally asked, his arms crossed and Jason’s supportive hand on his waist. 

All eyes were on Bruce. 

“I flatlined once. When I woke up, Leslie was ready to tell you but I stopped her. I knew Arthur. Hurting me directly was his first plan, but he had never hesitated to do it by proxy when it didn’t work. I knew he would go after you when he would know that I had survived. So I made a difficult decision.” 

There was a pause but no one interrupted Bruce. Hal was feeling strangely cold.

“Leslie was against it but I told her I wasn’t holding one of my sons’ dead body in my arms ever again and that the decision wasn’t hers.”

“She must have loved this. I hope for you that Alfred is never going to hear about this one.” 

Bruce blushed. He did feel ashamed about this. He would have to apologize to Leslie. 

“Yeah well, she told me she was going to help me but that the decision was actually hers.”

“I enlisted Clark’s help - needless to say he disapproved of me faking my death too - and we found out where Arthur lived - a small flat not far from Gotham. The walls and the desk were full of pictures and notes about us all. Nothing was hidden, but despite his ambitions and his wit, Arthur had always been a mediocre criminal.” 

Hal rolled his eyes at this one. They had all been targeted by Bruce’s soulmate and all he had to say about this was that said man was a moron. 

“You were targets, all of you. We destroyed everything we could find.”

Bruce stayed silent for a moment, then. There was something he hadn’t talked about, and they needed to know all about this if they were going to help, so Hal asked the question that had been on his tongue for a while.

“How did Arthur die ?”

Hal already knew Bruce hadn’t killed him, not willingly anyway, but he wondered what had happened. 

“We found his body by the docks. Decapitated. We believe the aliens that led the invasion had been tricked into doing it and that their queen asked for Arthur’s and probably his grandmother’s head. Traditional punishment on their planet too.”

Bruce sounded quite disgusted. Well, Hal would have been too, if he had found Mike’s headless body.

“I am sorry. You’re certain it was him ?” Hal asked.

He didn’t want to seem insensitive, but they had to be sure about this for their security. Well, he knew better than doubting Bruce in relation to security matters.

“Yes. I checked my soulmark. It’s red.” 

Hal squeezed his hand then. He didn’t know what Bruce felt about this, but it couldn’t be good. 

“Why haven’t you stopped your investigation and gone back to us, then ?” he said softly. 

“Many of the things I know were only deductions then, and I had to find more about it. Some of the pieces of information on the walls were very precise - things you couldn’t find in the press - and I wanted to know where they were from. Hal, are you certain Mike doesn’t know you’re a Green Lantern ?”

“I don’t think so, no.”

Bruce nodded. That was a good thing. 

“I failed to see how he could be useful to Arthur. What did he even learn from him that he couldn’t find in newspapers and the trial’s files ? I realized he may not have been seeking information.”

Bruce handed a photo to his second Robin.

“Jason, you remember him ?” he asked.

Jason took a cautious look and nodded. 

“Marcus Wilby. About forty years old. Been around for about three years, maybe, but not there permanently. Californian accent, maybe faked. Good looking and smart enough. Gets violent easily. Specialized in deathly poisons but sells drugs occasionally. Not a big name. What does it have to do with him ?”

Bruce took back the photo and showed it to Hal. The man blanched. 

“Barbara found that much for me. I am sorry, I should have looked more into what he had been doing since he was released.” 

“I told you not to.” Hal protested, and how infuriating it was that one of the rare times Bruce respected someone’s boundaries, it turned back against them !

“I think Arthur hired Hal’s soulmate to hurt him, but only found out about his fake identity today. Now that Arthur is dead, Mike is on his own, I am not sure what he is going to do. Hopefully give up, but I was thinking that a visit from Batman with some compromising files that I was hoping to obtain with Jason’s assistance would help.” 

Hal was starting to understand the puzzle better now that he had most of the pieces. Jason and Dick seemed to be less confused too. 

“I hadn’t found anything in his place except some administrative files about the trial, some pictures of us from tabloids, some Wayne Enterprises files… I am not even sure what Arthur tempted him with and what he looked up for himself.” 

It hit Hal so intensely he stumbled. He grabbed his arm forcefully. 

“Damian’s adoption records. Were they there ?” he asked.

The fear in his voice was communicative. 

“Yes.”

Hal had rummaged through his utility belt and discarded a glove to put his ring on before dragging Bruce out of Jason’s safehouse. 

“Hold me tight.” he instructed Bruce before wrapping his arms around him before starting to levitate.

“The Manor ?” Jason asked as he and Dick went out too.

Jason’s helmet was back on. Hal nodded, his throat tight. 

“We’ll be there in no time.” Dick assured, and taking Jason’s hand, he started to run. 

They barely heard him, Hal having enough will to power them through the city quickly if not that discreetly. 

“Mike wanted kids badly. I thought it was way too soon into our relationship but he was pressuring me. Very ironically, it was not long before I promised you to help raise Dick if anything happened to you.” Hal explained. 

Bruce was holding him really tight and Hal couldn’t tell if he was just following his instructions or if it was worry.

“For once, I am glad the kid was trained as an assassin and that Alfred is so scary.” Hal said softly.

“Why are you so certain something is happening now ? Why did we have to go back home so quickly ?” Bruce asked as Hal landed close to the Manor. 

“The date.” Hal said, and it was enough to make Bruce run, quickly followed by Hal. 

He had forgotten about it but it was obvious now. That was the seventh anniversary of Hal and Mike’s final break-up. No better day to take revenge on Hal that this one. 

The lights were still on in the house and both of them dreaded what they would find inside. Actually, as they progressed into the Manor toward the lightened places, they met Tim. Who almost fainted upon seeing Batman, once he realized it wasn’t Dick but told them they had stopped an intruder. 

Said intruder had been left under Alfred and Damian’s supervision while Tim was going to call them all home - except for Bruce for obvious reasons.

Jason and Dick arrived soon after and everyone changed into simple clothing. 

“Can you two ask Alfred and Damian to join me and Tim into the corridor and keep an eye on Mike ? Tim said he’s unconscious and tied to the heater. Alfred hit him with a pan when he found him lurking on the grounds and the boys helped him transport him inside.”

Soon enough, Hal was facing the youngest and oldest occupants of the house. Accompanied by Tim, who still looked very pale. 

“I have good news, but they are shocking ones. I think it would be best if we all had a seat” Hal said, and they went back to the living-room. 

It reminded Hal of the family reunion they had not long ago. Once they were sitting comfortably, Hal cried ‘you can come in’ because he had no idea how to present this, and Bruce entered the room almost shyly. He looked very unsure.

“Master Bruce !” Alfred exclaimed, a hand on his heart, extracting his long form from his armchair.

It was a wonder they still hadn’t given him a single heart attack. 

“Alfred. I am sorry.” Bruce said and it looked like he was about to cry. 

“Was it necessary ?” the old man asked his protégé. 

“Yes.” Hal said for him.

It meant forgiveness, because Hal could understand what had driven Bruce to such a decision. Bruce offered him a shaky smile. Hal smiled too to encourage him. 

Reproaches would come later, when they would be alone. This was a time for unity. 

Alfred hugged him, forgiving him too. The two kids sitting at opposing ends of the sofa didn’t seem to be so prompt to forget about what they had suffered though.

“Come here.” Bruce had said, opening his arms, and Damian had shook his head angrily but Tim had run into his arms as if he was much younger and cried on his shoulder. 

Hal had sat next to Damian.

“I know you just want to be angry and not feel anything else, but aren’t you happy that your father is back ?”

Damian crossed his arms.

“I have another one and this one had never left.” 

Hal sighed. 

“Bruce didn’t want to leave, he had to. It was clumsy, but sometimes people make mistakes when they try to protect other people and sometimes those people get hurt, emotionally. Bruce did what he did so we wouldn’t be in danger, because he loves all of us very much.” 

Damian sniffed. 

“You know what ? It is very late and I think you had enough emotionally charged events for tonight. We all should go to sleep and talk more about this tomorrow. Do you want me to carry you upstairs ?”

Damian glared at him. Bruce was talking to Alfred and Tim, an arm around Tim’s shoulders, who was clinging to his arm.

“I am not a baby.” Damian said, yawning. 

It made him look so young that Hal was tempted to disagree.

“I know. But you’re still a boy who lived through some very difficult stuff and it’s okay if you want me to sleep in your room tonight.”

For a second, Hal wondered if he had made this offer to avoid talking to Bruce a bit more or to comfort Damian.

“No.” Damian said. “Thanks.” he added.

“Anytime, kid.” Hal said, standing up and holding out a hand for him.

Damian hesitantly took it but released it quickly. They said their goodbyes to the rest of the room and Hal accompanied his son to his bedroom and tucked him in bed despite his mild protestations. 

His head had barely touched his pillow that Damian fell asleep.

“Sleep well, angel.” Hal murmured, kissing his head.

Bruce was waiting for him at the door, looking tenderly at their son. They closed the door quietly and went to their own bedroom.

Bruce told Hal that Dick and Jason had dealt with Mike - he was now in custody thanks to Jim Gordon - and that they had gone to sleep. He had frowned while pronouncing the last word.

“They’re soulmates and adults. In love, I should add, and they had just realized it. That’s healthy.” Hal said.

More than faking your death, he refrained to say as they undressed for the night.

“They’re brothers.” 

Bruce was frowning, his tone icy cold. 

“They weren’t exactly raised as ones and don’t share any DNA, you can cut them some slack.”

Bruce didn’t say anything.

“I know what’s bothering you. It’s Jason, right ? You’re afraid that Dick’s insistence that they’re not brothers makes him think he doesn’t belong in the family. That Dick is denying him his rightful place. Look, I am not saying you’re wrong, but they had been good to each other when you were gone. And we can work extra hard to show Jason that he is always welcome, and not only as Dick’s soulmate.” Hal said.

Bruce looked at him, pushing away some hair from Hal’s face. 

“I love you. But shouldn’t you be yelling at me instead of comforting me ?”

Hal laughed. Only Bruce would say that instead of just enjoying the moment and trying to make his partner forget that they had been mad at him. 

“You’ll have to wait for tomorrow for that. For now I just want to cuddle and have you close.” 

“Sounds wonderful.” Bruce murmured, wrapping his arms around Hal.

Hal just sighed in contentment and they fell asleep that way. Sometimes, the simplest things were the ones you care about the most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 97 typed pages later, here we are !
> 
> This last chapter is 30 pages long in itself, so some day I may find a way to equilibrate things a little bit but the edits I will make in the next weeks will be minors - but are necessary for some parts -. 
> 
> I'll go back this universe again - oneshots hopefully for my sanity and beauty sleep - because there are many missing scenes : Hal and Mike's break-up, Bruce's point of view for most of this but especially the Nowadays part, some stuff going on between Jason and Dick, Tim and Jason's relationship, what happens next... Oh my, what have I done, I've unleashed a neverending curse... Feel free to take one of these from my hands and write it yourself if you're tempted, seriously.
> 
> I know I have comments from the previous chapter to reply to but right now, it's 3 A.M. for me and my brain is in "BED-BED-BED" mode but I am not forgetting anyone !


End file.
